A Matter Of Heart
by Typhoon73
Summary: Dr. Maura Isles is an physician in the Mass Gen and really successful. But a happening changes her life. And then she's meeting the Italian Jane Rizzoli in a very unconventional way. It may be out of character. Eventually Rizzles, promise.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys. I have a little light story for you. I mean, between those two other stories I am currently working. I hope you will like it. And of course you are welcome to tell your opinion. Enjoy.**

 **T73.**

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Dr. Maura Isles finds herself sitting in a part of a park that with symmetrically flowers plant around her.  
The birds are singing their songs in the distance and the sun is warming her face. Her eyes are closed to fully enjoy her surroundings.  
Nothing in the world matters to her in this moment of peace and silence.  
She deserves this for so long, a little time for herself with a good book to read.  
Her job itself is stressful enough.  
She is an passionate doctor in Mass Gen's ER.  
She sleeps too less and works too much.  
Maura is aware of the fact herself because her private life is suffering a lot.  
If she is honestly to herself, she isn't sure if she still has a private life.  
The peaceful moment is disturbed as soon as someone is starting to shake her at the shoulder.  
Maura grunts disagreeing and opens her hazel eyes groggily to get greeted by her friend the nurse Melissa Gardner.  
"Maura." the dark hairs woman says gently.  
Maura is blinking the sleep from her eyes. "How long was I out?"  
Maura glances at her watch. "About six minutes."  
The honey blonde stretches her arms over her head before she's getting up to her feet. "Thanks." she says and went to the big coffee brewer. "Okay, I'll be right there."  
"Okay, I'll be right outside." Melissa says and hurries to the door. "Hey, Karen."  
Dr. Karen Logan enters the break room and furls her eyebrows as soon as she spots Maura. "Hey. What are you still doing here? How long have you been on?"  
Maura looks tiredly at the clock on the wall and sighs. "Uh ... Twenty-three."  
"Twenty-three?" the woman with the light blue eyes and red hair is asking horrified. "Time to go, Maura."  
"That's not gonna get me an attending slot." replies the gung-ho Maura before she's leaving the room with her cup of coffee in her hand, and the other woman is rolling her eyes.  
Maura meets Melissa in the hallway and accepts a couple of medical reports. "Adams? She needs to know how to redress her sutures, but then she can be discharged." she states and hands Melissa the file back, opening the next one. "No, no, no. Ellis needs an EKG. I don't like these swollen ankles."  
Melissa nods agreeing. "All right."  
"Thanks." the blonde says and slows her steps as soon as a tall dark haired man leaves a treatment room.  
Dr. Patrick McMahon smiles at her. "Oh, hey. I took care of Trauma Two while you were sleeping."  
"I wasn't sleeping." Maura starts to defense herself. "I was just ..."  
"Your welcome." he just cuts her off and disappears without waiting.  
"You're on in five and eight." says a male nurse and hands her another medical report as he's passing her.  
Maura's shoulders are slumping, but she doesn't complain. Instead she goes right back to work.  
She arrives at the hospital bed of an older gentleman and is looking for her friend. "Melissa? You seen Melissa?"  
The dark haired woman arrives in that moment. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm here."  
"Okay." Maura says and smiles friendly at the older man. "Hi, Mr. Clarke. I'm Dr. Isles." she looks over to the nurse. "We're gonna need a CBC, lytes and a UA. Okay." she smiles back at her patient. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable today?"  
Mr. Clarke takes her hand in his own. "Marry me?" he asks and Melissa chuckles.  
"Wow." Maura laughs.  
He squeezes her hand. "I have my own bus pass."  
Maura is making a face like she is considering his proposal. "Well, then how can I refuse? Let me just call my best friend and see if I can borrow her dress. You sit tight." she says and is leaving for her next patient. She's looking with a smile at Melissa. "Keep an eye on my fiancé, and decrease his morphine drip."  
Melissa is grinning and nodding.  
Maura is replaying how she had drank one coffee after another to keep her mind and body awake everytime she got the change to.  
How she had reset the shoulder of an careless cyclist, asking him _Doing_ _okay_ , and he just grinned.

Or how she was about to dress a wound of a man, slapping his hand as he were about to grab her butt.  
Or that she had cheered up an little girl with just a blown up glove with a smiling face on it.

 _A venti, triple-shot, sugar-free, vanilla, non-fat cappuccino_ she had ordered and only got an cappuccino from the coffee brewer in the break room.

Mr. Clarke crosses her way and clasps his hands together. "Oh. Doctor."  
Maura is looking a little confused at him. "Mr. Clarke?"  
"Will you marry me?"  
"Of course, Mr. Clarke." she says agreeing. "But first, we need to find you a robe. Melissa?"  
"Oh." says the older man and is patting his naked backside.  
The nurse is rushing over to them. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm here."  
Maura's rolling her eyes and enters the restroom. "Going full Kabuki tonight, Karen?" she asks as she sees her friend in front of the mirror, refreshing her make-up.  
"I found the dark circles were scaring the patients." the other woman answers.  
" **And** she's got a hot date tonight." says another nurse named Samantha.

"Oh. Stop!" Karen warns her playfully and Sam chuckles. "I'm going out to dinner with my ex and his mother. He still hasn't told her we're divorced. And I won't be responsible for killing an eighty year old woman."  
"Well, I'll trade nights with you." Sam says. "I've got to go home and sew six caterpillar costumes with Velcro legs for Katie's dance class."  
Dr. Vanessa Parker, another woman of the family Maura is a part of, emerges from a toilet stall and went to a sink. "I don't know how you guys do it." she says and washes her hands. "Nick is totally pushing me for kids. I don't even have time to shave my legs."  
"Stop shaving." Karen gives her the advice. "He'll leave you alone."  
Maura and Sam are chuckling at this.  
"Really?" Vanessa ask and places an hand on Maura's shoulder. "Maura, you're so lucky that all you have to worry about is work."  
Maura's nodding agreeing as she checks her appearance in the mirror and a loneliness starts spreading through her body as soon as her friends are leaving the restroom.  
It's not that she is an unattractive woman, quite the contrary.  
But she had worked too long and too hard so her dream to be a doctor in Mass Gen to just giving it up for a random guy.  
"Dr. Isles, you in there?" John, the male nurse, is asking through the closed door.  
Maura takes a deep breath, glancing at it. "Yes, I'll be right out." she says before emerging from the restroom.  
John is holding an x-ray up. "Ankle in bed two."  
Maura is studying it and narrows her eyes. "Okay, there is no fracture. Just wrap it up and sent him home. Thanks. "she says and rolls her eyes when her phone starts ringing. "Hello?"  
"Are you really coming?" the caller asks.  
Maura would recognize the voice of her friend Amanda Stanton from college any time at day. "Yes, I'm coming." she says smiling.  
"Good." Amanda replies. "Because this girl's great."  
"You met her?" Maura asks excited back and smiles because the two little girls in the background. "Is she there?"  
Amanda's hesitating. "I ... uh ... haven't actually met her in person."  
Maura is making a face even though she knows Amanda can't see her. "Okay, you're not setting me up with a complete stranger."  
"Oh, she's an friend of an old friend. She's really nice."  
Maura is standing with Sam and sighs. "Oh no, what does that mean, fat with a good sense of humor? Not again, Amy."  
"Look, it wasn't easy to get this girl to come. She doesn't do this kind of thing either." Amanda replies and Maura is wincing as her friend warns her daughter loud and clear. "Do you girls have to do that here? Do we not have six other rooms in the house? Help Mommy out here. I'm in seventh circle of hell, you better show up, Maura"  
"I'll be there." Maura replies emphatically. "I'm just really busy tonight."  
"Don't you dare saying you're busy. You don't know the meaning of the word Busy. Beggars can't be choosers."  
Maura is rolling her eyes again. "I mean, I'm completely capable of meeting women on my own."  
Since college, Maura had decided to go straight after women. After dating a lot of knuckleheads.  
Well, women were different.  
There were the types who wanted to gave a serious relationship with her and became to clingy. And there were the types who said that they liked her but didn't want nothing more but sex.  
But now Maura is in the age in which she is starting to look for the perfect combination. A woman who is caring but not a leech. Who is a good lover but wants more than just her body.  
She always liked the fact that she was able to talk about her sexuality with Amanda because she never judged Maura for that.  
Amanda sighs heavily. "I know, honey. I'd just like you to meet one who's not bleeding."  
Maura has to smile. "I've already had two marriage proposals today."  
Mr. Clarke crosses her way again. "Marry me."  
Maura smiles sweetly at him. "Yes, Mr. Clarke. Yes, of course. Make that three. Okay, I'll see you at seven." she glances at her watch. "Thirty. 7.30. What are you making?"  
"Lasagna." Amanda is answering. "My Mom's recipe. No carbohydrate comments."  
Maura has to chuckle. "Please. I'm going on a day and a half of salad. Anything'll do."  
Amanda's about to reply but stops. "Who put SpongeBob in the pasta?" she yells and Maura looks amused at her phone as soon as she hears girls squealing in the background. "I gotta go."  
Maura purses her lips and is hanging up.  
She sighs as Patrick McMahon rounds the corner with their colleague Dr. George Walsh.  
"So, what are you doing?" Walsh is asking.  
"The only other option is Phoenix." McMahon answers.  
"Would you consider it?"  
"Phoenix, Boston. Hm, old people and melanomas versus great sushi and desperate women."  
"Irving likes you."  
"Dr. Irving." says a female paramedic. "Gunshot victim, internal hemorrhaging."  
The older, experienced doctor is looking at Maura and McMahon. "How long have you been here?"  
"Twelve hours." McMahon is answering proudly.  
Irving is scrutinizing Maura.  
She is nodding disappointed to herself. "A few more."  
Irving shoves his hands in the pockets of his white coat. "All right, Patrick."  
McMahon is grinning. "I'll scrub up."  
Maura presses her lips to a thin line together and is about to leave resigned.  
"Maura." Irving says.  
She turns back to him. "Yes, Sir."  
"I was going to wait till tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know that I've made my decision." the white haired man says. "I want you to stay as an attending physician."  
Maura's heart is leaping in her chest and she's feeling like she could embrace the whole world. Instead, she is hugging her boss. "Really? Thank you!"  
"Hey, hey." he laughs.  
She's taking her distance again. "Thank you, Dr. Irving. Thank you."  
"You've earned it." he smiles and is looking in the direction McMahon had disappeared. "Unlike others, you spend more time concerned with what's best for the patient than kissing my ass." he says and Maura hides her smile. "A risky move, but I like it."  
Maura is feeling more than relieved. This is why she came back to Boston. "Sir, I can't thank you enough for this opportunity. There is so much I want to do here. I can't wait to get started."  
"Maura?" Irving says fatherly.  
She turns once again back to her mentor. "Yes?"  
He sighs heavily. "The only thing I need you to do right now is go home."  
Maura looks perplex at him. "But, Sir, I ... I have ..."  
"Go." he cuts her off. "You've been here twenty-six hours." he says smiling when he sees her questioningly face. "I know all."  
Maura can't help the smile that appears on her lips after he is disappearing and decides to finally find her way to the house of Amanda.  
After she had changed into a black pantsuit and a revealing red blouse, she sadly meets McMahon in the hospital's parking garage. "Patrick." she says with a nod.  
He unlocks his black Lexus. "Congratulations." he mumbles.  
Maura's unlocking her grey Prius. "Thank you. I didn't know Irving was gonna ..."  
He waves her statement with his hand off. "I have an offer in Phoenix. Life's good."  
"That's good." Maura plays it dumb. "That's ... great."  
He nods and opens the driver's door. "It's fine."  
Maura nods and smiles before she gets into her own car.  
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Maura does know that she shouldn't be phoning while driving, especially because it's raining and it's only a drive of twenty minutes from her work place to her friend's house in Beacon Hill. But she's far to excited and grabs her phone from the passenger's seat. "Hey, Amy. It's me."  
"Hey." her friend replies.  
"I'm sorry I'm late. I know, but I'm on my way."  
"Ah, don't worry. Your date's late too."  
"Oh. **Listen**. I have good news."  
"What?"  
"I got the attending position. I'm staying in Boston."  
Amanda is squealing. "Oh, that's great! Well, get over here. We're breaking out the champagne."  
"Okay." Maura chuckles. "Okay. Be there in a minute. Bye." she says, hanging up. She turns up the radio, but in the same time she's hearing squealing wheels on the wet asphalt and a horn.  
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Jane Rizzoli is a young American woman with Italian roots and desperately in need for her apartment after her fiancée had passed away.  
She doesn't need much. Just a TV, a couch and a fridge to store all her beer.  
She already has seen a different kind of apartments. From designer, to kinda fetish. But none of them had yelled _Home_ at her.

But after she had found a note on a bulletin board, she doesn't hesitate to call the number.  
The funny part of it all is that exactly this apartment is in the house she is standing in front of.  
She is well aware that she can't afford much but the apartment house is calling her name. That's why she's ignoring the objections of the real-estate broker.  
She enters the apartment while the other woman is talking on the phone to the landlord.  
The Italian likes the apartment from the second she has entered it.  
The furniture are classy but still modest. She can tell that they cost more than she makes in a year.  
The broker ends the call and takes a deep breath. "Oh. Well, it's pretty obvious why this hasn't rented. There's no one-year lease. It's a month-to-month sublet."  
"Why?" Jane wants to know.  
"Some kind of family matter. They were pretty close-mouthed about it." she pauses. "Wow, what a view."  
Jane ignores her once again and steps into the hallway and escapes through an door.  
The real-estate broker rolls her eyes and is following the Italian on the roof. "Jane." she says and her breath is hitching. "This is sensational. Oh, my God. And it's got the private access? They didn't do much with it, but, I mean, you really could do something with this. Isn't this gorgeous?"  
Jane doesn't say a word and disappears back inside.  
She finds the red couch, eyeing it and sitting down on it.  
The broker comes to her and frowns. "Well, there's a few places in Jamaica Plain we haven't hit yet."  
"I like the couch." Jane states.  
"The couch." the broker replies.  
Jane nods to herself. "Good couch."  
The broker is realizing what the Italian has said and raises her eyebrows. "Good couch."


	2. Chapter 2

**First of all, thank you all for reading and following this story, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. So, I have another chapter for ya. I hope you'll enjoy it.**

 **T73.**

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For Jane Rizzoli is a good couch basis for a good place.  
She has put her life on a pause after her fiancée passed away because of brain cancer.  
After that her whole life has crumbled down. She questioned her whole being and why she had found the love of her life so fate can rip her happiness right out of her heart.  
Normally she is a cop through and through, but after her fiancée died she didn't find herself still able to do her job any longer.  
There wasn't much that could keep her away from her job, but the death of Becca is exactly doing that.  
When Jane is closing her eyes she thinks that she still can feel Becca's fingertips ghosting over her skin, that's why Jane's numbing herself with beer as much as she can.  
How long were Becca and she looking for the perfect couch? She can't remember anymore.  
But now she has found it . All by herself. Like she had another choice.  
Jane's eyes are hardening as she watches a old family video with the love of her life and gets up from the couch to get another beer.  
She walks into the kitchen and gets the beverage out of the fridge, and starts to scream when she turns around and a foreign blonde stands in front of her.  
The foreign blonde seems to be as startled as herself because she's screaming on top of her lungs as well.  
"What?" Jane is yelling. "What, what, what?"  
"There's nothing worth stealing here." the other woman croaks.  
Jane narrows confused her eyes. "What?"  
"There's no money, there's no drugs." the other woman replies.  
The Italian furls her eyebrows. "I'm not stealing anything."  
Maura nods to herself. "Okay, I'm sure there's a homeless shelter nearby. I will give you money for cab fare and for a good meal. But please don't blow it on more beer, okay?"  
Jane points to her chest, more angry than confused. "I'm not homeless. I live here."  
Maura's looking pitiful at her now. "Okay. You can't live here, because I live here. This is my apartment."  
"Since when?" Jane almost shouts.  
"Since I rented it." the blonde replies as calm as possible.  
"You rented it."  
"Yeah."  
Jane buries her face in her hands and shakes her head. "You know what? I don't need this."  
Maura is also shaking her head. "What?"  
The Italian is rubbing her face. "Rent scam, right?"  
Now, Maura is more confuses than ever. "What are you talking about?"  
"Don't you get it? There's probably five other people who paid deposits and got the keys."  
"And moved in all their things?"  
"Yeah." Jane retorts and furrows annoyed her eyebrows. "What?"  
Maura points at the furniture. "This is my stuff. All of this. That's my couch, that's my coffee table." she walks over to the table and furls her eyebrows. "Is that a ring? Have you ever heard of a coaster? Or a trash can, for that matter?" she's pointing at the taller woman. "I don't care who you are, you're gonna mop that up. I'm getting the bucket. It's like a pig moved into my house."  
Jane follows the blonde hot on the heels. "A what?"  
Maura is ignoring her. "Like a filthy pig."  
"You ... You moved in when?" Jane asks but she's finding the kitchen empty. There is no blond woman. "What the ..." she groans and heads for the shower.  
Too much beer, it simply has to be too much beer.  
But to be sure she checks the hallway. "Hello?"  
She decides to install a extra lock and she'll install it right tomorrow. She doesn't need another unwelcomed visitor.  
She's enjoying the hot water as she's standing under the jet and takes another swig of her beer when she gets out of the shower.  
She automatically wipes the dust off of the mirror and jumps when she sees the blonde behind her.  
"I told you to get out." Maura's saying angrily.  
"Jesus!" Jane grumbles and turns around, but she finds herself again all by herself.  
She freezes and frowns deeply. "Jane, you are about to go buts." she whispers to herself after a few seconds.  
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Andrew Jacobsen is a therapist and Jane's best friend.  
He sighs and sits down in the bar of Jane's choice. "Okay. So, what's this all about?" asks the blond man.  
Jane sips her coffee and exhaled through her mouth. "What? Nothing."  
He eyes her skeptically. "So, you called me for nothing?"  
The Italian is frowning deeply. "I ... uh ... I've been sort of seeing someone."  
"Seeing someone?" he asks gleefully. "That's what I'm talking about. Finally."  
She doesn't look at him and shakes her head. "You think it's a good thing?"  
"Absolutely. Yeah. You know, last time I tried to hook you up, you bailed out. But this is good, and the fact that you initiated it by yourself, that's important. Okay? Now, who is she? Do I know her?"  
Jane is snorting. "I mean I'm seeing someone that's not there."  
Andy sips his own coffee. "She's emotionally unavailable?" he asks and understands when he sees the Italian's look. "Oh. You mean like a hallucination."  
"Twice," Jane snarls. "in my apartment. A woman."  
Andy smiles and takes his notepad out of the pocket of his jacket. "Attractive?"  
Jane's rolling her eyes. "Not really there, Andy."  
"Right. Right." he agrees. "Okay. So when you saw this woman, were you drunk?"  
"I mean, I had a little buzz." she answers.  
"Jane, don't lie to me, it doesn't help." he reminds her.  
"Okay, fine, I was wasted." she's snapping. "But still, I shouldn't be seeing some ... blonde control freak running around in my apartment." she furls her eyebrows. "Why are you writing this down? This isn't a session."  
Andy is glaring at her. "Hey, that's insulting, okay? I'm your friend Andy here, I'm not charging you." he looks at his watch and turns the corners of her mouth downward. "But if this thing rolls into a second hour we're gonna have to work out some deal." he holds his hand up as Jane is about to get up to her feet. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding. All right, so hold on a second. You were drunk, you saw this blonde control ..."  
"I gotta stop drinking." Jane sighs.  
Andy's eyes are snapping up. " **No**."

Jane pulls her head back. "No?"  
"Yeah, drink, party. Just do it with other people. God gave us alcohol as a social lubricant. Make us brave, make women loose."  
Jane can't help the smile. "What ... What is that, some Berkley shrink thing?"  
"No." Andy's laughing. "Look around you, okay? See this? This os the world. Join it. Stop swimming in your mind. That's a dangerous neighborhood that you should not go into it alone. Come on, Jane. It's been two years. No more hiding out."  
Jane is looking long at him. "Absolutely not."  
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Jane is sitting on her couch and opens a bottle of beer, watching out for the imagined woman, and sips her beer with a satisfied smile.  
She sighs heavily and nods to herself.  
Talking about this little ... issue probably helped this time more than bottling it up.  
She never was good at talking about her feelings, but after Becca's death, it became even worse.  
She knows that she's probably hurting her family and friends by not really talking to them, but that's how she's coping with things.  
She growls and get up to her feet. For her, it's time to go to bed.  
Jane crawls onto the bed and closes her eyes, ready to welcome the much needed sleep.  
"Are you insane?" is a familiar voice asking and the Italian drags her eyes open. "What are you doing?"  
Jane sits up and frowns. "Oh God, what is this?"  
Maura is placing her hands on her hips. "I didn't want to, but I'll call the police."  
"I'm sleeping." Jane mumbles and buries her face in her hands. "It's a dream. It's one of those dreams and you know you're dreaming."  
Maura is looking questioningly at the brunette. "How do you keep getting in here?"  
"It's you who's in here." Jane yells.  
"Oh, my." Maura says pitiful. "This is more serious than I thought."  
"Go away," Jane whines. "you don't exist."  
"All right. I'm gonna ask you a series of questions. I want you to answer honestly." Maura announces. "Has your recent alcohol consumption increased?"  
Jane's nodding agreeing. "Yeah, so?"  
Maura crosses her arms over her chest and is walking to the food of the bed. "So, are you hearing or seeing things that aren't quite real to you?"  
Jane is raising an eyebrow. "As a matter of fact, yeah."  
"Well then, have you recently sought consult from a mental health professional?"  
The Italian furls her eyebrows. "What? How do you know? Stay away from me."  
Maura takes a step closer to the bed. "You often feel paranoid, like people are out to get you?"  
"Why are you asking me so many questions?" Jane asks louder and presses herself against the headboard.  
Maura sits down on the bed. "I'll take that as a yes. Listen to me. You have fantasized, quite convincing, that you've rented an apartment, that, in fact, belongs to somebody else. Pick up that pillow. Pick it up. It's okay."  
Jane hesitates but pick the pillow up and turns it around.  
"There's a small red stain on it." Maura's saying. "Where I once spilled cherry cough syrup." she sees the resignation in brown eye. "Yes, that's it. How else would I know that?" she points at the bed. "Or the fact that these are sheets from Nordstrom. I still have the receipt, it's in that drawer. Open it and check."  
Jane hesitates.  
Maura's furrowing her eyebrows. "I think you need to come to terms with the fact ... that you may be mentally ill."  
Jane furrows her eyebrows too, starting to doubt herself. "Really?"  
"Yes." Maura replies softly. "This is my apartment. These are my sheet. That's my nightstand. That's my picture ..." she jumps up from bed when she sees no picture on the other nightstand. "Where is my picture?"  
Jane frowns deeply. "What picture?"  
"There was a picture there of my ... There was a ..." Maura clicks with her tongue. "There was a picture right there on the nightstand."  
"That was empty when I moved in."  
"It was just there." Maura snaps. "Okay. You know what? I've had enough. I am calling the police."  
"What?" Jane asks and gets up to her feet. "No. No, no, no, no."  
Maura glares at her. "It's too late." she says and wants to grab the cordless phone, but her hand went right through it.  
Jane's jaw drops to the floor and she has to sit down again  
Maura is staring at the device and tries it one more time, and again, unsuccessful. "What'd you do to my phone?"  
Jane's just shaking her head, unable to say a word.  
Maura is trying it one more time. "Why can't I ... You stay right there. I'm gonna use the one in the kitchen."  
Jane stares at the spot where the blonde is vanishing into air, and frowns deeply, running a hand over her face.  
Either she is crazy or ... going to become crazy.  
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The next morning, Jane is holding her phone to her ear as she locks the door to her apartment. "Hey, Grace, Jane Rizzoli here. Uh ... the people who sublet this apartment to me, do you have their number?"  
"Why?" Grace, her real-estate broker's asking. "Is something wrong?"  
Jane jogs down the stairs. "Uh ... No, no. I was just wondering about the previous tenant, that's all."  
"Oh, well, the woman that I dealt with, she didn't want to talk about it. It was some kind of tragedy in the family. I didn't press for details cause I don't need any more drama."  
Jane stops walking and breathing. "So you think this girl died?"  
"Well, you better hope so." Grace chuckles. "Cause that's the only way they're gonna get off this month-to-month thing and give you a real lease."  
Jane runs her hand through her black locks. "You know, that's ... that's ... That's not exactly the reason I was ..."  
"Come on, Jane," Grace cuts her off. "grow up. Look, it has a view, a fireplace. People would kill their grandmother for a lot less in this city."  
Jane huffs as Grace stats to laugh and ends the call without saying goodbye.  
That would explain a lot when the previous tenant died.  
She sighs heavily and makes the decision to get rid of this ... ghost.  
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The Italian is walking through the streets of Boston and chewing on the inside of her cheek as a ... Occult and Metaphyical Bookstore.  
If she wouldn't have seen what she has seen the last night, she would laugh about herself.  
She enters the store and looks for the right shelf.  
She is staring helplessly at some of the books of paranormal stuff that makes no sense to her.  
For her there is life and death, black and white.  
If there would be something in between life and death, why didn't show up Becca.  
No, instead it has to be a nagging stranger.  
She sighs heavily and takes a random book in her hand.  
"Can I help you with anything?" is asking a young salesman.  
Jane tries to hide the spiritual book behind her back and smiles. "No." she sighs again and glance at the book. "I mean, do you believe in this stuff?"  
He just shrugs. "Well, you don't until you do. That's a little dated. I recommend the Rosemary Preston. It's totally seminal."  
A older man joins the two of them. "Excuse me. Where's the UFO section?"  
"It's back and to the left." the younger man says and smiles at Jane. "Ufology. It's not a real science. So, what kind of encounter have you had?"  
Jane furls her eyebrows. "Encounter?"  
"Ectoplasm?" he's asking. "Soniferous either? I have a killer séance book if you're into communication."  
Jane huffs annoyed. "Uh ... Communication is **not** her problem."

The young man nods smiling. "Righteous. I have exactly what you need."  
Jane nods slowly and skeptically because he's scaring the shit out of her, but she accepts his ... help. Whatever kind of help he offers.  
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Jane is sitting at the coffee table, waving a candle and reading out loud. "Spirit, awake. Spirit partake." she rolls her eyes. "Spirit, without fear. Spirit appear."  
She holding the candle up over her head and waits, and waits, but nothing's happening. "Are ... Are you here. Come on, I think you're here." she says and takes a deep breath.  
She was never one of them who has patience and starts to place her steaming mug on the expensive looking table. "Okay. I've got a hot, moist cup of coffee in my hand. **There is no coaster in this table**. I'm going to set it down on this lovely mahogany ..."

"Don't you dare!" Maura cuts her off.  
Jane almost spills the hot liquid on her lap, but she doesn't care. She places carefully the mug on the newspaper that's lying on the table. "Ha!" she looks at the blonde. "We ... We need to talk."  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "About what?"  
Jane clears her throat. "Ahem ..." she licks her lips. "Has it crossed your mind that there might be something a little ... off about the way you've been spending your days?"  
Maura's crossing ger arms over her chest. "Actually, yes. It's weird having a squatter in your living room."  
Jane briefly closes her eyes. "I'm not ..." she takes a deep breath and gets up to her feet. "Okay, let's start over. Hi, I'm Jane Rizzoli. And you are ...?"  
Maura takes a step back as the Italian gets up from the couch, and furls her eyebrows. "I am ... uh ..." she looks at the mug with a name on it and her face relaxes. "I'm Maura. My name is Maura."  
Jane looks briefly over her shoulder and smirks. "You ... You don't know that. You ... you had to read that."  
Maura steps back forward. "I think I know my own name."  
"Okay." Jane is agreeing. "When was the last time that you remember actually talking to someone other than me?"  
Maura is backing away and frowns. "The other day." she pulls her head back. "The other day!"  
Jane nods slowly. "And ... And when you're not here, what do you do with the rest of your day?"  
Maura still backs away and laughs. "Well, certainly a lot more than you do, that's for sure."  
Jane's holding her gaze. "Let's not stray from the point, Maur."  
Maura holds her hand up. "Don't call me Maur. I'm not in kindergarten. My name is Maura."  
"You think." Jane retorts and she huffs. "Let me ask you, has ... uh ... dramatic happened to you recently?"  
"Like what?" Maura snaps.  
Jane shrugs and pulls the corners of her mouth downward. "I don't know, like dying maybe?"  
Maura gasps horrified. "How dare you say that to me?"  
Jane is placing her hands on the blonde's shoulders but they went straight through them. "Okay, calm down."  
Maura shrugs her hands off of her shoulders. "Get your hands off of me, you pervert!"  
Jane sighs and frowns. "Calm down. I'm not ... I'm not going to hurt you. I'm ... I'm trying to help you face the fact that you are ..."  
"I'm not dead!" Maura demands.  
Jane starts to lose her patience. "Look around you. There should be a bright light nearby."  
"There is no light." Maura's saying with an high-pitched voice.  
Jane is ignoring the statement and raises an eyebrow. "Walk into the light, Maura!"  
"There is no light!" Maura yells and steps back. "I'm not dead! I think I would know if I was dead!"  
Jane's eyebrows shoot up, but she says nothing.  
Maura looks down at herself and realizes that she, in fact, is standing in the middle of the dining table.  
She looks confused at the Italian. "What's happening to me?"  
"You're dead!" Jane screams at her.  
"Stop saying that!" Maura yells back and wants to slap the taller woman, but her hand went straight through the Italian's head.  
Jane's grinning smugly. "Missed."  
Maura's huffing and stick her hand through Jane's head.  
The grin on Jane's lips disappears again and she furls her eyes. "Okay. Okay, that's enough. That's enough! You're just giving me a headache!" she steps back. "Get off of me! Okay. All right, all right. It's not my fault you're the way you are. I just want you out of my house."  
"You get out!" Maura says firmly and wants to give the Italian a shove, but she went right through the other woman's body and through the wall.  
Jane looks through the window and is snorting. "Rest in peace." she says and turns around, jumping startled when she sees the blonde.  
Maura's crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not leaving."  
Jane glares at her and passes annoyed the blonde.


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, thank you all for following this story, I am so fluttered. That's why I uploaded another chapter. I hope you enjoy it as well. And no, no major character is dying, big promise. Enjoy this one.**

 **T73.**

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Jane has figured out how to take a shower without being completely since the spirit of the nagging, annoying blonde had refused to go into the light.  
She just keeps her underwear on.  
Jane doesn't flinch when she's opening the shower certain and is seeing Maura sitting on the toilet lid.  
She huffs and grabs the shower towel.  
Maura raises an well-sculpted eyebrow and smiles at the cranky Italian.  
After Jane has gotten dressed in a red shirt and a blue jeans, she's looking out for Maura as she opens the door of the fridge.  
This time she is flinching when she spots the blonde sitting in the fridge.  
Maura frowns when Jane takes a beer out of the device, "Another one, my, my."  
Jane glares at her before she slams the door shut and heads for the couch because she wants to watch a game if the Celtics.  
She's looking annoyed at the screen of the TV as is singing one of her favorite songs full-throatedly while she's lying on the coffee table.  
Jane grabs the remote and turns the volume up.  
That doesn't stop Maura, quite the contrary. It encourages her to sing even louder.  
"Fine!" Jane yells and turns the TV off.  
Maura's stopping for a second, but then she starts all over again to sing the song as the Italian's reading in the newspaper.  
"You know what?" Jane growls. "I've had it with you. I've tried to be nice, but now you're outta here!"  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
The next morning, a catholic priest is standing in the living room, performing an exorcism. "The power of Christ compels you!" he says emphatically. "The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!"  
Jane is leaning with the back of her legs against the couch and crosses her arms over her chest.  
"He can't even see me." Maura states bored.  
"A little more left." Jane growls at him.  
"You're mopping that up." Maura demands before she disappears in the kitchen.  
"More!" Jane says and mimics the priest's movement.  
After the exorcism had failed, Jane had called an Asian spiritual group, and after that failed, some kind of wannabe Ghostbusters tried their luck, unsuccessful.  
Now, she's standing at a window and stare at Darryl, the guy from the bookstore, and frowns. "That's it? You just ... sit there?"  
Darryl looks up at her. "Hey, you want bells and whistles or a reading?"  
Maura sits down in front of him on the coffee table. "Oh, come on. He can't see me, either. For some hideous reason, only you can see me."  
He furls his eyebrows. "Okay, there is something. Definitely a presence."  
"How original." Maura retorts sarcastically. "Tell me more."  
"It's hostile." he tells Jane. "Wants you outta here."  
Maura furrows her eyebrows. "Actually, he's not bad."  
"You should move, girl."  
Jane looks confused at Darryl. "I should move?"  
"I would."  
Maura's nodding agreeing. "I like him."  
The Italian's shaking her head. "Nah, I'm not gonna move."  
"Can't you feel that, girl?" he says. "There's like this cancer-causing ray of spirit hate searing right towards your body."  
"This kid's got a gift." Maura states smiling.  
Jane glares at her. "I'm not moving."  
"Why not?" he asks and looks around. "It's not like it's that great an apartment."  
"What?" Maura asks scandalized.  
"Yes, it is." Jane tells him.  
"It's got a view."  
"And a fireplace." Jane adds and the two women share a look.  
"Whatever, girl," Darryl says and shrugs. "You, do you have, like, a diet anything? I'm like 99.9 percent parched here. Could really use a cola."  
Jane furls her eyebrows and sighs. "Yeah. Come on." she says and walks into the kitchen.  
She's watching him as he empties the can of diet cola with one big swig, and furls her eyebrows. "Move out? That .. that can't be it. Could you please talk to her and tell her she should pass on?"  
"Could you please talk to her?" Maura mimics her and the Italian flinch.  
"I'm ignoring you." Jane announces.  
"I'm ignoring you!"  
Jane's closing briefly her eyes. "She won't accept that she's dead. I told her to walk to the light. She wouldn't do it."  
Maura rolls her eyes. "That's because there is no light. **God** , you're infuriating!"

Darryl holds an hand up. "Wait, what's going on?"  
"Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla." Jane answers.  
Maura's walking angrily up to her. "You know what? Do you think this is easy for me? I know something's different, something is not right here. I'm walking through walls here."  
Darryl rubs his forehead. "Okay. You know, I don't think I can help you. This is one of the most alive spirits I've ever been around. She's not going anywhere."  
"What do you mean?" Jane asks frustrated.  
"I agree with her, girl. She's not dead."  
Jane looms confused at the blonde and Maura nods smiling.  
"But you ..." he says and looks at Jane. "Whoa. You gotta deal with this ... Seriously, that's like darkest aura I've ever seen. Sucking all life right outta ya. It's killing you, girl. You have to let her go."  
"How can I, when she won't leave?" Jane retorts loudly.  
"Not your spirit girl." he answers and points at her heart. "I'm talking about the other one. The one you're keeping in there. That's what's really haunting you, isn't it?"  
Jane becomes dead serious and blinks a few times. "I don't want to talk about it."  
"Oh, I get it." Maura laughs and looks at the Italian. "You were dumped. Probably for some woman who doesn't have a couch fused to her ass."  
Jane closes her eyes. "Shut up." she hisses.  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "What? You can dish it out but you can't take it? You bring Father Flanagan and the whole Jay Lucky Club to get rid of me. But I just talk about you getting dumped you ..."  
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Jane's yelling and glaring at her. "Shut the hell up!"  
"Sorry for your loss, girl." Darryl says as the Italian storms out of the kitchen, and the satisfied smile on Maura's lips vanishes again. "A word to the wise, girl. Show some respect for the dead."  
Now, Maura's standing all alone in the kitchen and guilt is taking over.  
She sighs heavily and makes the decision to follow the brunette.  
She's finding Jane on the rooftop and takes a deep breath. "Jane? I'm sorry. It occurred to me now that I ... probably don't know you all that well." she pauses as the other woman doesn't turn to her. She looks around. "I got this place for the roof. I was gonna do a garden out here ... eventually, I think." she pauses and raises her arms from her sides. "Now I'm babbling. I ... um ... I'm really sorry. Most people who deal with a loss really find it helpful to talk about things."  
"I don't want to talk about it!" Jane yells at her.  
Maura nods agreeing. "Anger works to. Who was he talking about?"  
Jane stares at the skyline of Boston. "Becca. Her name was Becca."  
"Who's Becca?"  
Jane turns to leave the rooftop. "She was my fiancée."  
Maura's standing there like she is hit like thunderstruck as Jane leaves the roof.  
She really should have paid more attention, that's clear to her now.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Jane has decided that she has spent enough time in her apartment and with this disrespectful, annoying spirit.  
That's why she's in her way to a bar where she'll meet her friend Andy.  
She's about to enter the bar as a arm tries to hold her back.  
"Don't." Maura says with a frown. "This is not gonna help."  
"Oh, really?" Jane retorts. "How would you know? Ever been I a bar in your life?" she asks and enters the pub.  
Maura rolls her eyes and enters the pub as well.  
Andy's throwing up his hands as he sees Jane. "Oh, the groundhog emerges! I didn't think you'd make it. All right! All right! All right, it's Jeff, Jody, Kim, Valerie. This is my good friend, Jane."  
Jane shakes Valerie's hand and smiles. "Nice to meet you."  
"What you drinking?" the bartender asks.  
"Coffee." Maura demands.  
"Scotch!" Jane tells him.  
"Don't you dare!"  
"Make it a double!"  
"Well, you don't have to wait. I can start the hangover right now." Maura says and wants to stick her hand through Jane's head again, but the Italian's ducks away just in the same time.  
Maura furls her eyebrows and starts another attempt, but the other woman's again fast enough.  
Andy watches skeptically this odd dance of friend and plays it cool. "Yeah, whoo-hoo. Yeah. She's excited to be out. I know. Friday night."  
"You can't drink these feelings away." Maura declares.  
Jane still smiles at Andy. "Watch me."  
Andy turns to her and frowns. "Um ... So, you okay?"  
"You know, say goodbye, walk to the door, let's get some food in your stomach." Maura offers friendly.  
Jane's clearing her throat. "Who made you my mother?" she snaps at the only for her visible blonde.  
Andy looks a little taken aback at the Italian. "Um ... How you come along with those hallucinations?"  
"That ... that's ... That was nothing." Jane stammers.  
"Your not a well woman." Maura throws in and shakes her head.  
"Ssh ..." Jane hisses and glances at Andy, smiling. "It's just a lack of sleep."  
Andy's frowning. "Sleep. You getting any?"  
Jane takes the glass of scotch from the counter. "Eight hours."  
"Twelve." Maura corrects her.  
"Nine, tops."  
"Opium addicts are more alert than you are, Jane."  
"Will you knock it off?" Jane snarls at her.  
"Don't you dare." Maura hisses back as the Italian looks at her drink. "Don't!'  
Jane glares at her and starts to lift the glass to her lips.  
"Last chance." Maura warns her.  
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Jane retorts with a smile.  
Maura huffs and slips literally under the Italian's skin.  
Jane tense up and frowns deeply.  
Then she slams the glass onto the counter even though she doesn't want to.  
She smiles at the confused looking Valerie.  
As soon as she tries to take a sip of the scotch, she's slapping herself. And then one more time.  
"Jane, hey!" Andy yells concerned as the woman starts struggling with herself.  
Jane grunts and spills her drink over Valerie and gasp horrified. "Oh, I'm so sorry." she says and stumbles comically towards the door.  
"You freak." Valerie yells.  
Jane stumbles forward as soon as she left the bar and groans.  
Maura gasps and shakes her whole body.  
Jane gets up to her feet again. "Good God!" she yells.  
Maura looks satisfied at her. "You're gonna thank me for that one day."  
The Italian raises her arms from the sides. "For what? Making me look like a lunatic in front of all those people?" she growls and turns to leave.  
Maura looks after her and has to smile a little.  
She kinda finds it refreshing to have such a hot-blooded person around her.  
Jane's sitting down on a bench in Boston Common and shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket. She just needs a little time for herself.  
She flinch when she finds Maura sitting next to her. "Why are you still here?"  
Maura stares at her feet. "That's a scary question. I have no idea. Why are you the only one who can see me?"  
Jane's leaning back. "Don't ask me."  
"All I know is when I'm not with you, it's like I don't ..." Maura pauses. "exist. Oh, my God. Maybe I am dead."  
Jane leans forward again to look at the blonde's face. "Oh, come on now. I'm ... I'm sort that I said you're dead. Maybe you're not dead. Maybe you're just very ... light."  
Maura frowns deeply. "If I could just remember something about who I am, or was. I mean, then I'd know once and for all." she sighs heavily and shakes her head. "I'm trying to figure it out. I ... I just can't do it by myself."  
Jane starts chuckling as Maura looks hopefully at her. "You're not gonna asking me to ... to help you, are you?"  
Maura's straightening up. "Look."  
"Oh." Jane laughs.  
"You have two realities to choose from." the blonde explains. "First one being that a woman had come to your life in an very unconventional way and she happens to need your assistance."  
Jane nods to herself. "Right."  
Maura turns very serious. "The second one is that you're an insane person, and you're sitting on a park bench right now and talking to yourself."  
Jane's turning serious again and smiles at all the scared people who are giving her a concerned look. "I think I prefer the first one." she mumbles.  
Maura nods and is getting up from the bench. "Okay. Let's find out who I am."  
Jane furls her eyebrows and gets up too. "Wait. What? You mean like right now?" she runs after the blonde. "Maura?"  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
The next morning, Jane is forced to eat an healthy breakfast before she can get dressed and starts to find out who this quirky woman is, or was.  
She can tell that she never had such a argument in her whole life, even not with Becca ... or her mother.  
Jane has start to ask the other tenants in the house about the previous tenant of her apartment, always with the same result. They did know nothing about Maura.  
"It's like I was a ghost before I was dead." Maura says as Jane rings the last doorbell.  
Jane grunts amused before the door gets open by a very attractive woman in a sports bra and yoga pants. "Hi. Can I help you?" she asks .  
"Oh, finally normal." Maura cheers. "I bet we were friends."  
Jane clears her throat. "Hi, I'm ... Jane. I am a new tenant here."  
"Hi, Jane. Katrina." the other blonde says. "Come in."  
Maura raises her eyebrows. "She's friendly, I like her."  
Jane glances briefly at her. "Uh ... Oh, no. This'll just take a sec. I ... I have a question. The apartment upstairs, it belonged to a young woman."  
Katrina thinks short and nods. "Yeah, I think there was somebody. But she was like totally antisocial."  
"Okay, maybe we weren't close friends." Maura corrects herself.  
"Kinda like a cat lady, but without the cats." Katrina continues.  
Jane can't suppress the amused grunt that escapes from her throat.  
"Right?" Katrina laughs flirting.  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "Okay, I think we're done here. Let's go."  
Jane still chuckles. "Okay, thank you."  
Katrina sighs and holds her hands up. "Look, this is so retro, but I've got a window I can't open."  
Maura reappears at Jane's side and looks comically at her former neighbor. "She has to be kidding."  
Jane winces. "What?"  
"What?" Katrina asks back.  
Jane's eyes snap to the visible woman. "What?"  
Maura's rolling her eyes. "She wants you to come in."  
Suddenly Jane feels pretty edgy and swallows hard. "Well, if it's painted shut and you use a screwdriver ... to ... to jam it, it sometimes ..."  
"Oh," Katrina whispers with a smile and shrugs. "tried it, it won't budge."  
Maura raises her eyebrows. "No preliminaries. Incredible."  
Jane clears her throat once again. "I ... I'd like to help, but I ... I ... I have dinner plans."  
Katrina smiles smugly. "Well, I got dessert."  
Maura is gaging. "I just threw up in my mouth."  
Jane raises her eyebrows and looms at both women, laughing nervously. "Well, okay ... I ... I am ..." she's shaking Katrina's hand. "Nice to meet you."  
"You too, Jane." Katrina laughs.."Thanks." Jane mumbles before she escapes the whole situation.  
Maura is following her hot on the heels. "Why is she wearing workout clothes?" she asks. "I mean, if you were gonna work out in the middle of the day, which is basically the only reason to wear a push-up bra? The point's to strap 'em down."  
Jane growls and glares at her. "You know what? You're not coming with me anymore."  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "Why? Something might jog my memory."  
"Too bad. You're like an AM radio someone shoved in my head and I can't turn it off."  
"You don't think she was completely un-classy and predatory?"  
"Those are two of my favorite things."  
"Why don't you just date a pit bull?"  
"Maybe I will." Jane growls and searches her pockets for her keys. "Damn it!"

Maura furls her eyebrows. "What?"  
Jane sighs frustrated. "I locked my key in the apartment."  
"Oh, there's a spare key under the fire extinguisher." Maura's informing the Italian and crosses her arms over her chest. "I mean, I guess she's sexy if you are into that whole tall, big boobs, long legs, model-y sorta thing. I guess if you wanna be that woman."  
Jane rolls her eyes,unlocks the door and heads straight to the fridge. "Look. There are five other units here, and not one person even remembers what you lol like. Talk about being disconnected from people."  
Maura makes a pouty face when Jane's taking a beer from the fridge. "Are you sure you really want that?"  
Jane is nodding emphatically, and looks for the bottle opener.  
Maura rolls her eyes. "Next drawer on the left."  
Jane smiles at her.  
Maura's rolling her eyes. "There's a funnel there too, if you need it."  
The Italian's glaring at her and frowns when she finds the next clue. " Check it out."  
Maura steps closer to her. "What is it?"  
The Italian's holding a note and a ticket up. "Two choices. Now look, there's an address written on here. I can't make that out. Is it a five or a six?"  
Maura narrows her eyes. "Um ... I think ... Six. No, no, no. That's a ... so ... No, no, no that's a five. Definitely a five. So we have an address written on here I can't name that out. Is that a five or six?"  
Maura narrows her eyes as she stares at the note. Um ... I think it's a... So definitely ... No, no, no that's... That's a six. You know what that means?"  
"We can start a very small fire?" Jane replies.  
If Maura could, she would slap the Italian's back of her forehead. "No n silly. There's still hope."  
Jane nods slowly and groans. "Right."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi, guys. Thank you for all the kind response. It made my day. Anyway, I already have the next update. I hope you'll enjoy it as well. Enjoy.**

 **T73.**

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"Oh, yes, these pants are jet black." says the employee of the dry cleaner. "Armani, I believe."  
Maura's raising her eyebrows. "Oh, yes, I remember them. They were expensive."  
Jane raises an eyebrow. "Do you remember anything about the woman? It's important."  
The older man nods. "She's pleasant but a little dull maybe."  
"Dull?" the two women ask in unison.  
"I think of her, I think of sadness, loneliness."  
Maura purses her lips. "You know, I don't need a psychological profile from this guy. Can we just get the pants?"  
Jane smiles friendly at the man. "Can I ... get the pants?"  
He shrugs. "Item left too long. We give them to homeless shelter."  
Maura takes a step forward and stands in the counter. "You gave away my pants? Are you insane? They were Armani."  
"Okay, let's go," Jane laughs and clears her throat as she sees the confused look of the man.  
Maura's still glaring at him.  
Jane rolls her eyes. "Are you coming or not?"  
"But ... my pants."  
"They are pants, what do you need 'em for?"  
Maura huffs and follows the Italian. "You know, you're good at this investigation thing. Were you a P.I.?"  
Jane grunts and shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "Thanks, but no. I hate P.I's."  
"So what did you do for a living before you became like ... this?" Maura asks.  
Jane takes a deep breath. "Like this?" she shakes hear head. "I used to be a Homicide Detective."  
"Homicide?" Maura asks and raises her eyebrows. "That's unexpected, but it explains why you're good at this."  
Jane chuckles to herself and nods. "Thanks."  
Maura tilts her head to the side and smiles.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Jane stops her Ford at the known address and glances through the windshield. "425, I think. Look familiar?"  
Maura gets out of the car. "Not really."  
Jane sighs and rings the doorbell.  
She waits until an older man opens the door.  
"Can I help you?" he asks.  
Jane smiles friendly. "Hi. Um ... This ... this might sound a little odd, but I was wondering if you knew a certain woman. Blond, about five-foot-five."  
"Six." Maura corrects her.  
"Six." Jane corrects herself.  
The man furls his eyebrows. "Oh, my God. Who are you?"  
Jane furrows her eyebrows. "I don't know you. I ..."  
"Did my wife hire you?"  
"I'm sorry, what?"  
"I knew she'd find out." he whispers. "Whatever she's paying you, I'll double it. Anything you want."  
Maura's jaw's hitting the ground.  
Jane holds her hands up. "I'm not looking for money, Sir."  
"Donald, who is it?" a female voice comes out of the house.  
Maura's furrowing her eyebrows.  
He steps into Jane's personal space. "Come back around six. I'll have a check ready."  
"But ..." chokes out. She looks perplex at Maura as he closes the door, and smiles amused. "Wow."  
Maura huffs frustrated and glares at the Italian as she grunts. "What? Oh, you don't think I had sex with that old horndog."  
"Kinda looks that way, Maur." Jane smiles.  
"Maura." she retorts warningly. "And that's disgusting."  
"Well, look at the bright side." Jane replies and opens the passenger's door of her car. "At six, I'm coming into some money."  
Maura still glares at her, but then she smiles when she notice the open door. "Thank you."  
Jane vows her head a little. "You're welcome." she says softly.  
Suddenly the realization hits the blonde. "Oh, my God. Maybe I was a slut. A lonely, home wrecking slut."  
"A lonely, home wrecking, attractive slut." Jane replies and buckles her seatbelt.  
Maura has to chuckle. "I'm not quite sure if I should feel insulted or flattered."  
"Look at you, I can make you smile." Jane chuckles.  
Maura laughs for real for the first time. "And look at you, you can smile at all."  
Jane chuckles again and starts the engine.  
Maura frowns deeply. "I mean, seriously. So what if I was a slut? There's nothing wrong having a healthy sexual appetite."  
"Not at all." Jane chuckles.  
She can't believe that she's having such a conversation a spirit.  
Maura wants so badly to give this woman a shove. "Of course, look to whom I'm talking to, Ms. Tired To Feel Me Up On Time."  
"I'm trying to agree with you." Jane is laughing.  
"Oh, Jane." Maura's exclaiming.  
Jane rolls her eyes. "What?"  
Maura points at a restaurant. "This is it, pull over  
Jane is doing as she is told and frowns. "You recognize it?"  
Maura just nods.  
Jane gets out of the car. "Good. Okay, come on."  
They are entering the restaurant and Maura inhales deeply the scent of the restaurant. "This is Moose's. I love this restaurant."  
"You ate here a lot." Jane states.  
The blonde shakes her head. "No."  
"No."  
"I never did. I remember looking in that window and wishing I could eat in her."  
Jane furls her eyebrows. "What, were you a homeless street urchin? Why didn't you?"  
Maura shrugs, "I wanted to, I ... I just never got around to it." she sighs and frowns. "Maybe the dry cleaner guy was right about me."  
"Hello, can I help you?" is the receptionist asking Jane.  
Jane waves her off. "What? No, no, no, thank you. Maybe some other time."  
A man stumbles over his feet and falls to the ground.  
"Kenny!" a woman yells horrified.  
Maura automatically turns around as hell breaks loose, and her eyes become unfocused as she looks at the man. "Feel his chest."  
Jane frowns deeply. "What?"  
"His chest," the blonde replies. "check and see if it's bloated."  
Jane starts to feel uneasy. "How ... how would I know?"  
Maura's looking sternly at her. "Just do it!"  
Jane waste no second and pushes her way through the gathering crowd. "Excuse me. Pardon me. I need to feel his chest."  
Maura kneels down beside the Italian. "Can you feel his ribs?"  
Jane pats down the man's upper body. "No, but I can if I press down."  
"What are you doing?" asks the receptionist.  
"Does he feel bloated?" Maura asks too.  
Jane furls her eyebrows. "Mhm, I think so."  
The confused receptionist frowns. "You think what?"  
"Tell them you'll need a sharp paring knife and a bottle of vodka." Maura instructs.  
Jane hesitates for a moment. "I need a paring knife and a bottle of vodka."  
The other woman looks at the bartender. "Nick?"  
Nick nods. "I got it."  
"What's wrong with him?"  
"It's a tension pneumothorax." Maura explains.  
"I think a nemothaxer." Jane replies.  
Maura closes briefly her eyes. "Pneumothorax."  
"Pneumothaxer."  
" **Pneumothorax**."

"Pneumathurman."  
"Never mind." Maura sighs.  
Jane holds an hand up. "Never mind."  
The receptionist frowns. "But what is it."  
Jane replies what Maura's telling her word for word. "The air is escaping out of his lungs into his chest. Open his shirt." she pauses and furls her eyebrows. "What?"  
Maura shakes her head. "No, you do it."  
Jane stops the other woman. "I'll do it." she says and unbutton the man's shirt.  
Maura frowns deeply. "A valve at the opening of the lungs. If it doesn't close, then the it constricts the lungs and compresses the rest of the organs. Now, I want you to feel for his ribs again. A little bit lower."  
Jane is nearly on the edge of crying but pats down the ribs.  
On the other hand, Maura's staying more than calm. "The spot between two ribs, do you feel that?"  
Jane nods and gasps.  
Maura nods too. "Okay, slash some vodka on it."  
Jane does what she has been told with shaking hands.  
Maura nods once more. "All right. Get the knife."  
"Okay." Jane whispers and looks at the others. "Uh ... Can I ask everyone to stand back a little bit here? Just ... just further please. A little bit further. Thank you." she glares at the honey blonde. "What am I doing with a knife?" she hisses.  
"Make an incision." Maura replies like it is the most common thing.  
Jane scoffs. "You know what? No."  
"Jane, this man's life is at a stake." Maura says emphatically.  
Jane shakes her head. "I ... I can't stab a man."  
Maura lifts her hands. "Okay. There's nothing to be afraid of. You're just gonna make a small whole for the air to escape. So put the knife on that spot."  
Jane whimpers as she make this incision. "Oh. Oh, my God. How do you know this."  
Maura frowns deeply. "I don't know, I just do. Now do it. Put the knife there. Now, you're gonna need to push harder than that. A little bit harder."  
"Oh God." Jane croaks but does as she's told.  
Maura raises an hand. "Okay! Okay, good! That's enough. All right, now, take the pourer out of the vodka bottle."  
"What?" Jane's asking with a frown.  
"All right. You're doing good. Now ..."  
"Hold on." Jane states and takes a big swig from the bottle. "Go!"  
Maura rolls her eyes. "Put the pourer in the hole that you made."  
"What?" Jane squeals.  
"It'll keep the wound open so the air can escape. **Just do it**!"

"I can't." Jane squeals again.  
"Do it." Maura says sternly."  
Jane gags and puts the pourer into the wound.  
A hissing sound comes from the pourer, and the man starts breathing again.  
Maura smiles relieved. "He's breathing."  
"He's breathing." Jane exclaims. "He's breathing."  
Maura starts to beam. "I'm a doctor."  
The Italian's raises her arms over her head and is breathing heavily. "I'm a doctor."  
The receptionist nods agreeing. "I know. Thank God. The ambulance will be here right away."  
Maura glances at the younger woman. "Ask here where the nearest hospital is."  
"You ... uh ..." Jane says. "You know where the nearest hospital is?"  
"Just a few blocks from here. Mass Gen."  
Jane shakes overwhelmed the woman's hand. "Thank you."  
Something clicks in Maura's mind. "Mass Gen?" she asks as they're leaving the restaurant. "I may have been a home-wrecking whore, but I saved lives. Jane, I worked in that hospital. I know it, it sounds so familiar."  
"I ..." Jane stammers. "I've never saved a life before. Not ... un that kind of way."  
"It's the best." the blonde is waxing lyrical about her profession. "One minute you're looking at this monitor, it says _game_ _over_ , then you bring it back, a blip and it's there!"

Jane inspects her hand. "What's that?"  
"Oh, that's just a little blood." Maura answers and waves the question off.  
Jane gets pale before she is passing out.  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "Jane? I thought you're a Homicide Detective."  
Jane is only grunting.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two women are entering the lobby of the hospital and Maura looks around.  
"I worked here." she exclaims.  
"You did?" the Italian asks.  
Maura's nodding. "The receptionist, her name is Samantha. It's all coming back to me now. There is Bill and Laura and Michael and ... uh ..."  
Jane goes over to the desk and smiles friendly at Sam. "Excuse me, I would like to know if a Maura is working here."  
Sam's looking a little shocked at her. "Maura? You mean Maura Isles?"  
Jane is sighing relieved. Finally they got a full name.  
"Isles." Maura smiles. "Yes, that's my name."  
Jane nods agreeing. "Yes, that's it. Maura Isles."  
Sam hesitates for a second. "Dr. Isles is ... um ... is not active on our staff right now. Hold ... hold on. Let me talk to someone." she says and gets up from her chair. "Excuse me, doctor."  
Maura is staring at her old friend as a thought crosses her mind. "Oh, no, she's got the tone."  
Jane furls confused her eyebrows. "What tone?"  
" **The tone**. When you're trying to pass the buck onto somebody else to tell you your friend died."

Sam comes back and smiles at the Italian. "Excuse me, Ma'am. I need you to go to the third floor nurses' station."  
Jane nods, thank her and goes to the elevator.  
Maura slows her steps when she's seeing her friend Karen on the third floor. "Oh, no, it's Karen. She's my mentor. They wouldn't send us up here if it wasn't bad."  
Karen smiles at Jane. "Miss Rizzoli?"  
Jane nods and shakes her hand. "Hi, yes."  
"Karen Logan."  
"Nice to meet you."  
Karen shoves her hands in the pockets of her white coat. "You've been inquiring about Maura Isles?"  
Jane licks her lips. "Uh ... yeah. That's right. Could you tell me what happened to her?"  
Karen still smiles. "Well, first I need to know your relationship with her."  
"Tell her you're my girlfriend." Maura instructs Jane. "She can't tell you anything unless she knows we're intimately connected."  
Jane hesitates for a moment. "Uh ... We were ... romantic with ... each other."  
"What do you mean." Karen asks.  
Jane clears her dry throat. "You know, girlfriend-girlfriend."  
The other woman has to laugh. "I know what **romantic** means, but I ... I have a hard time believing that."

Maura furls her eyebrows. "What?"  
"What?" Jane echoes.  
"Why?"  
"Why?"  
"Maura's whole life was this hospital." Karen replies.  
Maura's stumbling backwards. " _Was_? Did she say _was_?"

Jane nods with a sigh.  
"I don't know of a ... single date she'd ever been on." Karen continues.  
"Well ..." Jane replies. "We ... we were fairly recent. I live in her apartment."  
"Jane." Maura whispers.  
"Building." the Italian adds.  
Karen looks a little confused at her. "So ... you don't know about the accident?"  
Jane glances briefly at the blonde by her side and sighs again. "Accident."  
Maura's staring ahead as she starts remembering the ride to her friend Amanda's house, the phone call and the headlights that were coming towards her, and the squealing wheels on the wet asphalt. "Oh, God, Jane. I remember it. It was awful."  
Suddenly, Jane's heart's feeling heavy and she's shaking her head. "I was ... I've been away."  
Karen nods sympathetically. "It was three months ago."  
Jane raises her eyebrows and rubs her neck. "Three months. I'm sorry. I was on a business trip. Can I ... uh ... Can I see her?"  
Karen points in the direction where Maura has disappeared. "Her room's right down the hallway. Take all the time you need. And if you have any questions, just ask."  
Jane smiles a truly sad smile. "Thanks a lot." she says before she follows Maura.  
She opens the door and looks confused at Maura, who's standing next to her comatose body. "What was that? You were, like, flying." she says and her heart skips a beat when she sees Maura lying in the bed. "Oh, my God. It's you. It's you. It's really you. You're ... you're not dead. You're alive."  
"I know, Jane, but I'm in a coma." Maura replies horrified. "This is not good."  
"Well, it's way better than dead. Look at you. You're body is healing. It's ... You don't have any scars. You look pretty."  
Maura has to smile a little at that. "It doesn't matter how I look. Three months, that's a persistent coma."  
Jane's furrowing her eyebrows. "Okay, we're here now. Let's do something."  
"Like what?" Maura's asking resigned.  
Jane shrugs. "Like ... I don't know. You're the doctor."  
Maura frowns deeply. "Right. Right." she sighs after thinking hard. "Forget it."  
"What?" Jane asks emphatically.

Maura hesitates. "I was gonna say that we ... I need to find a way to put myself together again."  
Jane nods agreeing. "Okay. Good, good. That's great." she pauses. "How do we do that?"  
Maura lies down on the bed and onto her body. "Maybe we should try this." she says before her spirit and body fuses.  
Jane stares at the monitor. "Something's happening! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's working!"  
Maura sits up again. "Yeah?" she looks down at herself and frowns disappointed. "No. Let me try again."  
"I mean, really focus on it." Jane says enthusiastically. "Hold on inside there."  
Maura huffs and sits up again. "I'm not sticking. It's like I'm no longer connected to this body."  
Jane furrows thoughtfully her eyebrows. "All right, all right, all right. Turn around."  
Maura looks confused at her. "What?"  
"I just want to try something." Jane replies.  
"Okay." Maura agrees and turns away from her body.  
Jane takes carefully the blonde's hand in her own and caresses it with her thumb. "You felt it." she states as the blonde spirit looks down at her hand.

"My hand tingled." Maura admits.  
"You are still connected to your body." the Italian says softly.  
Maura looks to the heart monitor and shakes her head. "The monitor doesn't agree."  
Jane laughs briefly. "Machines don't know everything."  
"Everything in my training tells me they do."  
"Then how are we having this conversation?"  
Maura takes a deep breath. "I don't know."  
The door opens again and Karen sticks her head inside the room. "Ms. Rizzoli? I'm sorry. I have an appointment, and I can't leave you here unattended."  
Jane nods slowly. "Can I just have a couple more minutes please? I'm ... I'm saying goodbye."  
Karen smiles sympathetically. "Of course."  
Jane's smiling back at her. "Thank you."  
Maura studies the self-made cards, drawings and framed pictures on the windowsill. "The daughters of my best friend must have made these things for me."  
Jane joins her and points at a portray of Maura. "Wow, that's ... that's an amazing likeness."  
Maura has to laugh shortly.  
Jane smiles and takes a certain picture in her hand. "Look at this."  
It shows Amanda and Maura partying together.  
The blonde smiles softly. "That's the picture from my nightstand. Amanda must have brought it."  
"You look great." Jane admits.  
Maura looks briefly over her shoulder to her own body. "Look at me now. These levels aren't changing, Jane. If anything, they're decreasing."  
"I ... um ..." Jane's saying and clears her throat. "I'm gonna have to leave soon."  
Maura turns back to her. "All right."  
The Italian furrows her eyebrows. "Want me to wait downstairs in the lobby?"  
Maura smiles at her and shakes her head. "No, no, that's sweet. You should go. Thank you for helping me."  
That is something Jane hadn't expected, and she can't tell why she's feeling so ... disappointed.  
She takes a deep breath and nods. "It was my pleasure." she furls her eyebrows. "Um ... Are you sure you don't want to come back with me? After all, it is your apartment. It's fine."  
Maura looks directly into brown eyes and licks her lips. "After I made it here, I ... can't imagine leaving myself, you know?"  
Jane nods again. "Okay, I know, I just ..." she smiles nervously. "It just feels weird leaving you here alone."  
The blonde let the words sinking in. "I don't know where else I belong."  
Jane drops her gaze to the floor. She doesn't know why those words hurt so much. Or why her brain is yelling _To me. You belong to me_.

But she knows, she can't say that out loud. She doesn't have the courage to do so.  
The door opens again and Karen looks at the Italian."Ms. Rizzoli. I'm sorry."  
Jane sighs heavily and makes a decision. She leans down and kisses the blonde's forehead. "Goodbye, Maura." she says as she straightens up, and looks at Maura's spirit.  
Maura looks a little stunned after the taller woman. "Goodbye."  
Karen sighs and is looking at Jane who is waiting for the elevator. "Oh, I hate this. Maura finally gets a life, and then ..."  
Melissa looks at her. "You know what? That woman was cute. At least Maura got the chance to hang with her for a while."  
Karen smiles a little. "Yeah. It woulda have been awful if she'd gone through her whole life not knowing what it was all about."  
Maura has overheard the conversation and steps backwards, asking herself if she really was such a lonely soul.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, guys. Again, thank you for all your response, following and favorite this story. Well, we're slowly coming to an end here. But, I hope you will still enjoy this update. Again, thank you.**

 **T73.**

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jane enters her apartment that suddenly feels forlorn, and takes off her lather jacket. "You here?" she asks and sighs as the nagging blonde doesn't show up and walks to the kitchen. "I guess not."  
She wants to open a bag of chips, but then she changes her mind and prepares some real dinner about what Maura was annoying her for almost a month.  
Jane furls her eyebrows when someone rings the doorbell.  
It can't be, could it?  
She walks to the apartment door and opens it, being a little surprised.  
Katrina is smiling at her. "I'm locked out."  
Jane steps to the side. "Uh ... come in."  
She wants to be anywhere but in her apartment after the other woman had called the locksmith.  
Katrina's keeping talking and talking without even realizing that the Italian isn't really listening. She's talking about unimportant topics.  
Jane clears her throat and frowns. "Um ... I'm sorry. The ... the locksmith, does he know to ring my unit?"  
Katrina shrugs. "Uh ... I think so. Oh, where's your bathroom?" she asks and gets up from the couch.  
Jane gets up too. "Right down the hall there."  
"Okay." the other woman whispers and walks in the said direction.  
Jane can't help but to risk a look on Katrina's butt.  
She rolls her eyes and buries her face in her hands, groaning.  
She turns around and jumps as she sees Maura standing behind her. "Oh, **wow**! Maura!"

Maura looks confused at her. "Yeah." she smiles.  
Jane can't help the broad smile on her lips. "No, I just ... I didn't think you were gonna come back. I thought you were gonna stay at the ... hospital with your body."  
Maura closes briefly her eyes and sighs. "Jane, it's terrible. They're trying to get my best friend to sign papers authorizing permission to take me off of life support."  
Jane furls shocked her eyebrows. "No! What? They can't do that!"  
"I know. I said that." Maura replies and laughs sarcastically. "Nobody could hear me. And I just wanted to talk to you."  
"Jane!" Katrina is saying.  
Jane's head snaps into the direction. "Um ... Just a minute."  
Maura's glancing in the same direction and blinks a few times. "Well," she says and looks at the Italian. "that didn't very long."  
Jane's eyes went huge. "No. No, she barged in. She ... she got locked out of her apartment."  
Maura smiles and shakes her head. "You don't have to explain. I get it."  
The Italian lowers her eyebrows. "No, you don't get anything. She's just using the bathroom. That's ..."  
"Her voice sounded like it came from the bathroom." Maura cuts her off.  
Jane frowns and looks back in the direction. "It did?" she gasps at the first piece of clothing flies out of the bedroom, followed the others.  
"Come here." Katrina hums. "I want to show you something. When you you know, you know, right?"  
"I had no idea that's ..." Jane whispers emphatically.  
Maura glares at her. "You had no idea she was naked on your bed."  
Jane still has big eyes. "No."  
The blonde scrutinizes her and furls her eyebrows. "You're wondering what she looks like."  
"No, I'm not."  
"A little."  
Jane swallows hard. "Not enough to go look."  
"Tell you what." Maura replies and starts to walk towards the bedroom. "I'll do a little recon for you."  
"Please don't." Jane's begging her.  
Maura rolls her eyes. "Don't worry. I'm a doctor."  
"Maura." Jane hisses through clenched teeth. "No, no, no, no, no."  
Maura holds an hand up. "Relax." she says before she sticks her head through the closed bedroom door. "Oh." she looks at the Italian. "She's got a tattoo on her ass. It says All aboard."  
Jane looks in disbelief at the blonde. "Really?"  
Maura walks to her and nods. "In three languages."  
"Oh, that's funny."  
"She's very culture."  
Jane's smirking at her. "You know, you sound jealous."  
Maura huffs. "Oh, please."  
Jane steps a little closer and leans with her shoulder against the wall. "You do."  
Maura opens her mouth to retorts something and her eyes drops to the smiling lips of the Italian.  
"Are you talking to someone?" Katrina asks from the bedroom before she emerges from it, breaking the moment. "Hey, what's going on?"  
"Eyes up top, Jane." Maura advices the brunette.  
Jane frowns deeply. "No ... Nothing." she says and pulls her collar with her finger.  
Katrina smiles a little. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm coming on a little too strong. That's just my style. I hear you sometimes. Up here, by yourself. And I just figured ... maybe she's lonely. I know I am. Is it wrong for me to want to touch someone? To be close?"  
Jane looks at Maura and can understand what Katrina's talking about.  
She wants that, too, but she doesn't want to touch this invader.  
She wants to touch the smaller woman who's standing next to her, she wants to feel her skin, to kiss the pain away that is now mirroring in Maura's eyes.  
"To feel a warm body next to me?" Katrina continues.  
Maura turns to Jane. "Jane, just do it."  
"What?" Jane asks surprised.  
Maura smiles softly, but the pain is clearly visible in her eyes. "Go ahead, be with her. It's what you both want."  
Jane shakes her head. "No, it isn't."  
Katrina raises her eyebrows. "Are you all right? Do you ... wanna take some kind of medication first? It's cool if you do."  
"Jane, it's okay. "Maura says with a hurt voice. "She's beautiful, and she's right in front of you. And I'm in the way."  
Jane's heart drops and she turns to the leaving woman. "No, you're not. Maura. Maura! Maura!"  
"It's Katrina." the other woman says when Jane turns back to her and drops the towel she's wearing to the floor. "Oh oh."  
Jane sighs heavily.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Maura's standing on the rooftop, enjoying the few, and muse about her lonely life.  
It's clear to her that Jane wouldn't be interested in her when they would have met under normal circumstances. Or if she would be, she would lose her interest because of Maura's job.  
And to be honest, she wouldn't be interested to share her evenings with an couch potato.  
She's sure that it wouldn't work out, romantic relationship or just friendship.  
She looks over her shoulder as she hears footsteps. "That was quick."  
Jane takes a deep breath. "Come on, nothing happened.  
"What'd you say to her?"  
Jane's scratches the back of her head. "Um ... That I was seeing someone,"  
"Honestly?" the blonde laughs.  
Jane raises her eyebrows and stands close to the blonde. "Well, I didn't mention that I was the only person who could." she sighs as Maura finally is smiling for real. "You know, I haven't ... uh ... haven't really been with anyone since ... since Becca." she stops and shakes her head. "She was cursing at a shoe. Her heal had broken. And then she just kinda sat down and put her hand to her head."  
"Cerebral haemorrhage?" the blonde asks softly.  
Jane looks at her, she doesn't care about the tear that is rolling down her cheek. "What? No. No, we went to hospital the next morning, and they did a MRI. The doctors found three tumors in her head. All of them were unresectable. They gave her six months, it took just four weeks after she got the diagnosis. Becca went for a walk one morning, she had to stay in the hospital, and then just collapsed. And ..." she takes a deep breath. "I was at work when I got the call. I wanted to visit her that day in my lunch break. And than she was, like, gone. I couldn't even say goodbye, and she was just ... She's gone."  
Maura looks long at the grieving woman. "What was she like?"  
Jane wipes the tear away. "Oh, you know, she was just, a big pain in the ass." she laughs briefly and Maura joins her. "No, really. I mean, the bras on the doorknobs, leaving the car with the ... with the gas needle empty. She couldn't put gas in the damn car. It was impossible for her. And just total stubborn inability to master a remote. So she just randomly click buttons, until the TV was snarled to some unmanageable condition. I mean, I'm so ... I'm mad just thinking ... thinking ... thinking about her."  
"I'm sorry, Jane." Maura whispers.  
Jane's staring at the ground, shaking her head.  
She know that she can't handle it if she's losing someone she ... cares about just like that again. "Your friend really wouldn't sign those papers, would she?"  
Maura grins and shrugs. "I don't know." she steps closer to the Italian. "I hope not. Won't even matter if I don't wake up soon. My brain activity's decreasing everyday, Jane."  
Jane starts chuckling. "Maybe that's not such a bad thing. You're kind of a smarty-pants." she replies and Maura chuckles too. "No, it'll bring you down to my level."  
Maura tilts her head to the side with a soft smile. "You're not dumb, Jane, just a little lazy. Cute but lazy.  
Jane smiles broadly. "Oh. Thank you. I wasn't always like this, you know."  
Maura's smiling back at her. "What were you like?"  
Jane takes a deep breath and starts walking. "Come one. I want to show you something."  
Maura's smiling broadly and follows the Italian.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Maura is looking through the window of the car as they're driving outside of Boston and takes a deep breath. "Where are we?"  
"It's an estate." Jane answers. "The guy's in Hawaii this time of the year."  
"Are we trespassing?" Maura asks.  
Jane turns off the engine. "Don't worry, we're not going inside."  
"Oh, I'm sure you did that more often in the past." the blonde retorts. "So, I'm not worried."  
Jane glances at her. "I'm a cop. That is part of my job."  
Maura raises her eyebrows. "Oh, **now** you're a cop?"

The Italian smiles at her. "Are you making fun of me?"  
"Why would I?" Maura asks back, grinning.  
Under normal circumstances, Jane would silence the blonde's cocky mouth in some way, but these aren't normal circumstances.  
That's why she just opens the heavy iron gate. "Here it is. You said you love gardens."  
Maura looks amazed around. "What is this place."  
"Becca and I mad me this place." Jane answers and shrugs. "Well, she made the most of it. It was just a kind of hobby of me. Becca was a landscape architect. I helped her everytime after I catched a rough case to relax my mind, to keep me sane." she chuckles. "It didn't help, though."  
Maura ignores that and gasps. "Jane, I've been her before."  
Jane furls confused her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"  
"I know this gonna sound really strange, but I dreamt if this place. These flowers, everything. It's beautiful. I had no idea, Jane. What a joy it must be to create a place like this."  
Jane takes a deep breath. "Yeah, it was."  
Maura looks questioningly at the taller woman. "Is it gonna be again?"  
Jane just shrugs. "Sure."  
Maura sticks out her hand. "Promise?"  
Jane looks down at the hand and scoffs.  
But then she places her hand against Maura's and looks surprised at the other woman as she feels a small tingle.  
Maura holds the Italian's intense gaze and has no intention to break it.  
Jane flinch a little when her phone starts ringing and it breaks the moment. "Uh ... wow." she states and the blonde chuckles. "Who the hell's calling me? Hello?"  
"Jane, it's Grace." the real-estate broker announces. "Well, you're the luckiest woman in Boston."  
"Thank you." Jane replies and glance at the blonde. But then she furls her eyebrows. "Why do you say that?"  
"Great news, the apartment is yours. And they're willing to give you a nice long lease."  
"How long lease?"  
"Really long. And I'm gonna send it over and I'll talk to you tomorrow."  
All alarm bells in Jane's head sets of in the same time. "Wait, wait, wait. Why ... why they giving me a long lease now?"  
"Oh, it's a terrible story. The tenant was is kind of coma, or something, and it is as it is, so they're gonna pull the plug. But get this: they are gonna throw in that couch you like. Jane?"  
Jane just ends the call and stares worried at her phone.  
Maura's stepping closer. "What?"  
Jane swallows hard and looks at her. "We gotta talk to your friend."  
"Why? What are you gonna say to her?" Maura asks confused.  
Jane starts to walk and shrugs. "I don't know. What dirt do you have on her?"  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Jane rings the doorbell and smiles at the confused blond dark blond woman.  
"Can I help you?" Amanda's asking.  
Jane frowns and glances briefly and decently at Maura. "Um ... Hi, I'm Jane Rizzoli. I'm a friend of Maura."  
Amanda crosses her arms over her chest. "Oh, okay."  
Jane's clearing her throat. "I ... um ... heard about her current condition and I ... I was wondering if I could talk to you. I promise, I'm not dangerous."  
Maura's rolling her eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's really soothing her."  
Amanda takes a deep breath. "Follow me." she says and walks into her house. "So, how do you know Maura? You must've worked together. God knows she wasn't dating anybody."  
Maura rolls her eyes once more. "Everybody likes to rub that one in."  
Jane's rubbing nervously her hands. "Actually, this is gonna be a little difficult to swallow, but ... uh ..."  
"Tea!" are the two girls squealing as they come running into the kitchen.  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "The girls are here? They're supposed to be at school."  
The older one, Simone, takes Jane's hand. "Would you like some tea, madam?"  
Jane smiles and is sitting down on a small plastic chair. "Uh ... Well, yes, thank you, madam."  
Maura hurries to her. "Jane. Jane, abort. Don't do this in front of them, it's gonna freak them out."  
Amanda takes a cup in her hand and smiles. "I'm sorry, you were saying? How did you know her?"  
"Lie." Maura instructs Jane. "Lie your butt off."  
"We worked together." Jane lies to Amanda.  
" **No**!" Maura hisses.

Jane looks briefly at her. "No."  
"No, no, no. You're not credible as a doctor. Just make something up."  
Jane clears her throat. "I mean, I didn't work with her. We worked together on my illness. I was a patient of hers."  
Maura sighs and notice that the smaller girl is looking at her. "Lily? Can you see me?"  
Jane looks at the little girl. "I ... I was sick. I had meningitis. Spiral meningitis."  
Amanda furls her eyebrows. "Oh. I'm sorry."  
"Spiral meningitis?" Maura is interfering. "It's not a disease."  
Jane is just ignoring her. "Oh, no. It's okay. I'm much better now. I ... um ... Maura, she believed in me, believed that I would recover when nobody else did. And then I did."  
Amanda is smiling and nodding. "That sounds just like her. But why are you telling me this."  
Jane is sighing heavily. "Because ... I know about Maura's situation, and I just wanna say that there are ... uh ..."  
"Lily." Maura says softly as the girl brings four cookies. "You know I'm here, don't you?"  
Lily just smiles at her.  
Jane looks again at the girl. "Things going in sometimes that ... that are beyond our understanding." she gets up from the chair. "And so, I just wanted to ask you ... Actually, I just want to beg you to ... uh ... to give her a little bit more time. She's gonna pull through this thing. I just know it."  
Amanda smiles sadly at the Italian. "That's really sweet of you to say, but ... It's kinda too late."  
Maura gets up the her feet and walks to Jane. "Amy."  
Jane heart drops. "What do you mean?"  
"Amy, what did you do?" Maura asks.  
Amanda takes a deep breath. "It's Jane, right?"  
The Italian nods. "Mhm."  
"You see, it's too late because I've already signed the papers."  
Maura's shoulders are slumping. "Oh, Amanda. I'm here. Can you feel me? I'm right here."  
Amanda licks her lips. "We're terminating life support tomorrow at noon, while the girls are in school. I mean, the past three months have been so hard on them, on all of us."  
Jane runs a hand through her hair, frowning. "Well, I understand that. I really do. But I think you're making a grave mistake here, because I really believe ..."  
"It's for the best." Amanda cuts her off with tears in her eyes. "Really. This is what Maura wanted. I mean, I spent the whole time since I know her thinking I knew what was best for her. What she should wear, what men or women she should date. This is the last thing that Maura asked for. And for the first time, I'm gonna respect her wishes."  
"Oh, Amy." Maura whispers.  
Jane slowly nods to herself. "Look. This gonna sound strange to you, but ... um ..."  
Maura's eyes shoot to the Italian. "Oh, no, no, no, no." she tries to stop the Italian.  
Jane closes her eyes and ignores the smaller woman. "But the truth is Maura is here with us right now. She came here with me, she's standing next to you, begging you to wait."  
Amanda is staring at Jane like she has lost her mind. "Right next to me?"  
Jane nods agreeing. "Right there."  
Maura frowns deeply. "Jane, stop."  
"No." Jane replies and looks at Amanda. "I don't know how or why, but somehow I can see your friend's spirit. I know it's crazy, but I also can talk to her. So why don't I have her just explain to you the whole thing, and I'll translate."  
Amanda presses her lips together. "Could you just hold on, just a sec?" she asks calmly, went to her children and usher them into the living room. "Okay, tea party is over. Time for Wiggly Safari!"  
"Yeah!" are the girls squealing excited.  
Jane smiles and raises her arms over her head.  
"Okay, this could work." Maura states relieved.  
"I was getting through to her." Jane is saying with a smile.  
"You need her go straight to the hospital."  
"Right to the hospital."  
"We'll get her to rip those papers ..." Maura says so engrossed that she hasn't noticed Amanda going to the kitchen island and getting the butcher's knife from the knife block.  
"Get the hell outta here, you freak!" Amanda scream furiously.  
Jane swirls around and stumbles over the plastic chair as soon as she's seeing the knife.  
"Oh, my God." Maura's squealing horrified. "Amy what are you doing?"  
Jane stumbles backwards. "I'm ... I'm ... I'm not making this up! Why would I?"  
Maura is standing protectively in front of the Italian, well knowing that it won't help if Amanda goes after Jane. "Amy, calm down, just calm down!"  
"I'll chop you up!" Amy scream hysterically. "I swear, I will chop you!"  
"Tell her about A.J." Maura demands.  
Jane raises her eyebrows. "I know about A.J."  
Amanda furls her eyebrows. "What?"  
"I know what you did with A.J. on your wedding day. I'll tell everybody." Jane says to her.  
Amanda stares in disbelief at her before she starts to send the Italian fleeing. "How do you know that? Nobody knows that! Get outta here! Get going!"  
Jane starts to scream and runs for her dear life, straight out of the front door.  
Amanda tries to calm her heart down and looks into the living room. "You kids okay?"  
Lily's looking up to her mother. "Mommy, is Auntie Maura goons have more tea?"  
Amanda nearly drops the knife, that she's hiding behind her back, to the floor at that question. "What?"  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Maura's standing at the park that is nearby her friend's house and is watching a happy family, smiling at the sight of the toddler in the woman's arms.  
Jane joins the blonde and shoves her hands in the pockets of her jeans, sighing. "Uh ... I don't think your friend's a very spirital person.  
"She's just being a good mom." Maura replies without looking at the Italian. "Trying to keep her kids away from a crazy woman. I think I would have liked to be a mom."  
Jane looks at the same happy family. "You'd make a good one."  
Maura looks at her and smiles. "Thanks." she becomes serious again. "Guess I'll never really know."  
Jane's making a face. "Oh, come on, Maur. This can't be."  
Maura looks back at her and raises an eyebrow. "Maur?"  
Jane holds up her hands. "Okay, I'm sorry. I know you don't like to be called that."  
Maura's shrugging. "I'm warming up to it."  
Jane sighs heavily. "I can go to that hospital. I could ... I could talk to your friend, Karen. I could ..."  
"No, Jane." Maura cuts her off.  
"talk to the asshole guy." Jane continues unwaveringly.  
"Patrick?" Maura asks.  
Jane nods. "Patrick, yes."  
"No, Jane. Just stop. They'll put you in a straitjacket. There's no wat anyone's gonna believe I'm still here."  
Jane stomps frustrated her foot on the ground. "Amanda's daughter. Her daughter, the little girl. She saw you."  
Maura raises her eyebrows with a sarcastic smile. "Oh, great. My fate's in the hands of a four-year- old who has seven other imaginary friends."  
Jane lowers her eyebrows as a thought crosses her mind. "Wait. There is someone else."  
Maura looks questioningly at the Italian. "What do you mean?"  
Jane starts to walk to her car. "Come on."


	6. Chapter 6

Jane enters the bookstore where she has bought all the books, and spots Darryl immediately. "Darryl!"  
He looks up from his book and smiles. "Girl."  
"Yeah."  
"The spirit's with you, isn't it? You can't bring that **thing** here. What are you thinking?"  
"Listen, man." she replies. "You were right. She's alive."  
He nods again. "Righteous."  
"But she's in a coma. Her best friend'll take her off life support."  
Darryl now shakes his head. "Not so righteous. So, what, are you guys socializing now?"  
Jane looks at the blonde and frowns as Maura smiles at her. "We've ... acclimated."  
He's grinning as he looks in Maura's direction. "Yeah, I can tell. In fact, I'm sensing some pretty intense feelings she has for you, girl."  
Jane's eyes snap to Maura's. "Really?"  
Maura blushes a little. "No, I don't."  
Darryl chuckles amused. "Uuh, major red aura. Somebody's embarrassed."  
Maura slowly closes her eyes. "I am not." she glares at Jane. "Can we focus here?"  
Jane clears her throat but can't hide her grin. "Okay."  
"Ask him if there's a spell ..."  
"Is there a spell. Or a chant, electric shock. Anything to get her spirit back into her body?"  
He holds an hand up. "Whoa. You're totally asking the wrong question."  
Jane furls her eyebrows. "Why is that wrong, man?"  
He takes a deep breath. "Look, I have the gift. I didn't ask for, but I do. I can sense these things, spirits, whatever you wanna call 'em. Why they're hanging here in the first place? That's their unfinished business."

Jane furrows her eyebrows and points at herself. "So, do I have the gift?"  
Darryl snorts amuses. "Girl, please. You definitely don't have it. You're a civilian."  
"But if I don't have it," Jane says carefully. "how is it that I can see her and talk to her when no one else can?"  
"Exactly."  
"Exactly what?"  
He frowns with a nod. "That's the right question."  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Jane stomps into the apartment and toss her jacket on the couch. "What the hell is he talking about? God, I feel like it's right there in front of us. I just can't get a handle on it." she grumbles and looks through those spiritual books.  
"How do you solve a problem that isn't possible in the first place?" Maura asks.  
Jane snorts. "Because nothing seems impossible to me anymore. I mean, why did I move into your apartment in the first place? Or why ... why can I see you when no one else can? I mean, why ... why was I down in that restaurant when that guy collapsed? It all seems to interrelated somehow."  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "What are you doing?"  
Jane's massaging her forehead while she's reading in a book. "I don't know. I feel like I missed something here. Wait a second Rosemary Preston lives right here in Boston. We could go talk to her." she gets up from the couch that got her into this mess. "I'll call information, maybe she's listed."  
Maura is pointing on an object that is lying on the coffee table. "Where did you get this?" she asks and sits down on the couch. "It was just in the hospital."  
Jane walks back to her and swallows hard when she sees the picture of Maura and Amanda. "Yeah. I ... uh ... I took it. I'm sorry. I ... I just ... I wanted to have a picture of you. I wasn't sure that I was gonna ever see you again. I'm sorry."  
Maura nods and then shakes her head."Don't be sorry." she says with tears-ladden voice. "That's really nice. I really like that picture."  
"Yeah." Jane says softly and sits down next to the blonde. "Yeah, I liked it too."  
Maura takes a deep breath. "I just gotten my MCAT scores back."  
Jane takes the frame in her hand. "Well, you must've done well."  
Maura laughs briefly. "No, actually I bombed. My scores were so low I couldn't even get into correspondence school."  
Jane frowns a little. "And that's a good thing?"  
Maura shakes her head. "No." she says and chuckles with the Italian. "I know it sounds kinda crazy. I wanted to go back to the library and start studying immediately, but Amy said no. The only thing to do was to burn my scores and drink margaritas. Lots and lots of margaritas."  
Jane caresses the blonde's face on the picture with her thumb. "Well, looks like she was right."  
Maura laughs agreeing. "It's just funny because the one time I completely failed at something, I had more fun than I'd ever had in my life."  
Jane's sighing heavily. She would do anything to see and get to know that,Maura from the picture. "You look happy."  
Maura nods agreeing. "I was happy. But what was I doing with the rest of my life? When I think about my life and I ... All I can remember is working." she wipes an tear off her cheek. "You know? Working and working and trying so hard. And for what?"  
Jane wants nothing more than to take this blond mess in her arms. "You help people. You save lives."  
The blonde's closing her eyes. "Yeah. Including my own. I saved my life, for later. I just ... I never thought there wouldn't be a later."  
Jane is skidding closer and shakes her head. "No, don't say that. There's still time. We're gonna see this lady ..."  
"You know," Maura cuts her off and looks her straight in the eye. "I just don't want to spend my last night crying. Or ... fighting my fate. I wanna do something ..." she sees the Italian's hurt expression. "with you, Jane."  
Jane looks at her, a tear is rolling down her cheek without asking for permission.  
She nods and gets up to her feet. "Okay. Okay, great." she's saying and wipes angrily the tear off her cheek. "What do you want to do? You want to fly to Paris?" she asks and the blonde laughs. "See the Eiffel Tower? No problem. You wanna dance on a beach in Bali? Lets go! Let's do it! Anywhere. Anywhere in the world that ... will take MasterCard or Visa. Anywhere."  
Maura's still smiling. No one beside close friends has ever offered such a big heart to her.  
She looks at the woman in front of her and frowns. "There is something that I would like to do."  
Jane kneels down in front of Maura and places her hands next to the blonde's legs, looking up with soft brown eyes. "Anything."  
Maura buries her face in her hands. "Oh, I'm so bad at this."  
Jane frowns and tries to look into hazel eyes. "What? What is it?"  
Maura looks long at her and frowns.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Jane lies fully clothed on the right bedside and smiles softly. "Are you nervous?"  
Maura hesitates. "A little."  
The Italian's smile grows wider. "Why?" she whispers.  
"I don't know." Maura's whispering back.  
Jane runs her hand only a few inches along over Maura's body contours like she really could feel the body under her touch. Her eyes never leaving hazel ones. "How can you be nervous when I can't even touch you?"  
Maura's holding the Italian's gaze. "I think I'm more nervous because you can't touch me."  
Jane is grinning. She would never admit that her heart is thudding hard against her ribcage right now. "Why?"  
Maura frowns a little. "You know, in the hospital when you touches my hand and kissed my forehead? I felt it. I mean, my spirit felt it. I ... I don't know how. But I think if you could ever really touch me ... I might wake up from all of this."  
Jane holds up her hand and when Maura places her hand against Jane's palm, the Italian closes her eyes. "I can almost feel that."  
"Me too." Maura replies and opens her own eyes again. "I think I k,ow what my unfinished business is."  
Jane frowns deeply. "What?"  
"You." Maura whispers back.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Jane hasn't slept that well for quite a while, but when the sun rays caresses her face she's grunting and rolls onto her back.  
A second later a thought crosses her mind. "Maura." she mumbles and cracks an eye open just to her bed empty. "Maura?" she asks louder.  
"I'm right here." Maura says softly from the armchair that is standing in the bedroom.  
Jane sighs relieved and get out of the bed. "Oh, good, good. I thought you were gone. Suddenly I know what I'm supposed to do. Because thus time I can do something."  
Maura looks questioningly at her. "What are you talking about?  
Jane puts on her shoes and looks at her. "Maura, when we first met, I kept saying that you were dead. But it was me that was dead, and you brought me back. You saved me. And now it's my turn to save you."  
Maura gets out of the armchair. "How?"  
Jane puts on her leather jacket and put her hair in a ponytail. "I'm gonna steal your body."  
Maura blinks a few times and follows Jane got on her heels. "Jane. Jane. Jane, what are you thinking? You can't do this!"  
Jane jogs down the stairs. "Why can't I?"  
"Because you'll go to jail!" Maura retorts.  
Jane stops abruptly and turns to the blonde. "So what? If something happens to you, you think I care where I'll be? Ar least this'll buy us a little more time."  
Maura is rolling her eyes. "The things you'd have to know to even start to pull this off ..."  
Jane steps closer. "You know theme. You'll talk me through it."  
Maura is holding Jane's gaze and sighs, "Okay, you're gonna need a van. And somebody with no morals."  
Jane walks to her car and nods. "I think I know someone who has both of it."  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Andy is holding tightly on the seat as Jane's speeding into the corner. "What are we moving again?"  
Jane's focused on the street and chuckles. "Medical supplies."  
"You didn't tell him?" Maura asks from the backseat.  
"Ssh." hisses.  
"You have to tell him." the blonde replies. "You know, he looks really familiar to me."  
"You saw him at the bar." Jane mumbles.  
Andy glance at her. "Saw who at the bar?"  
"No ... no one, never mind." Jane replies and turns left. "Here we go."  
He went tense in the passenger's seat. "Okay, and we're in such a hurt yo move this stuff because?"  
Jane doesn't look at him. "Uh ... There's a one-day sale on hospital beds. I always wanted one."  
He rolls his eyes. "Oh, great. Now you're gonna become a bed potato."  
Maura skids behind the driver's seat. "You've gotta tell this poor guy."  
"Not yet." Jane hisses again and looks in the rearview mirror.  
Andy glances at her. "What yet what?"  
"We're not there yet."  
"Okay, Jane, be honest with me. Has your imaginary friend come out to play?"  
Jane frowns deeply and forces the can into the driveway of Mass Gen.  
Andy raises his eyebrows and screams on top of his lungs.  
Jane hurries into the storage room of the hospital.  
Maura follows her and frowns deeply. "Okay, grab a cart. You need a blood pleasure cuff ... and a portal ventilator, right there, that yellow thing."  
Andy throws his arms up. "Jane. Jane, what the hell are you doing? This isn't a sale!"  
Jane huffs. "All right. I know you wouldn't come if I told you."  
"Do I really want to hear this?" Andy replies.  
Jane glance at Maura and clenches her teeth. "My imaginary friend is not imaginary. She is the spirit of a girl in a coma upstairs, who they're about to take off life support. And we have got to get her body someplace safe."  
Andy frowns deeply. "Really?"  
Jane nods agreeing."Really."  
Maura rolls her eyes. "I knew you should've told him."  
Jane looks desperately at her. "He wouldn't have believed me."  
Maura points at the man. "Does he believe you now?"  
Jane is realizing that the blonde really get the best of her and stomps her foot on the floor. "I had to get him into the hospital." she nearly growls.  
Andy is holding up his hands. "Jane. Jane, let me take you to the psych ward. There are people up there who can help!"  
Jane furrows her eyebrows, ignoring Maura's pitiful gaze. "There's no time. It's 11.30 right now. She's gonna be dead in half an hour!"  
Maura has never experienced that someone has stepped up for her like the Italian is doing right now even not Amanda, even though they were more like sisters than friends.  
How could she leave Jane alone in all of this. "Tell him I know this is a stretch for him."  
Jane's pointing at the blonde. "Maura is standing right behind you now. She says she knows what a stretch this is for you."  
"Oh does she." Andy growls.  
"Yeah." the Italian replies.  
"Okay, if your friend's really behind me, ask her what I'm doing with my hand. Rock, paper or scissors?"  
Maura keeps an eye on his hand behind his back. "Rock."  
"Rock." Jane's saying.  
"Scissors."  
"Scissors."  
"Paper."  
"Paper."

Andy furls his eyebrows confuses.  
"Rock again." Maura informs Jane.  
The Italian rolls her eyes. "Seriously? Rock again?"  
The blonde gasps as And is raising his middle finger. "He's flipping me off."  
"Are you flipping her off?" Jane asks with an high-pitched voice.  
Andy looks confused over his shoulder. "How ..."  
"You're flipping her off!"  
He closes briefly his eyes to sort his thoughts. "Okay. Okay, sometimes people with emotional and mental disturbance can have psychic moments. All right. But even if she was real, do you know what you're risking for this woman?"  
"Yes!" Jane answers emphatically.  
"Why?"  
Jane's hesitating and sighs. "Because I love her. I love her." she looks at the blonde. "I do, I love you."  
Maura furrows surprised her eyebrows. "No one's ever said that to me before."  
Andy rolls his eyes and huffs. "Fine. Let's get the stuff we need to save your girl."  
Maura is beaming broadly.  
"Thank you." Jane mumbles and starts to gather the things they need.  
After they have done so, they emerge on the third floor with a gurney and dressed in white coats.  
"Jane?" Maura asks.  
Jane is frowning deeply. "What?"  
"Tell him thank you."  
"We're really grateful, Andy." the Italian says.  
"I'm not doing it for you." he crumbles.  
"Well, then why are you doing it?"  
"Because someday, trust me, I'm gonna need help moving a body. When that day comes, I don't wanna hear any shit from you."  
Jane looks long at him before she opens the door to Maura's room.  
Maura's licking her lips. "Okay, get me on the gurney, quick."  
Andy looks at Maura's comatose body and his eyebrows shoot up. "Oh, my God, Jane."  
Jane put the grid down and doesn't look at him. "I know. She's pretty, right?"  
Maura rolls her eyes. "That's really sweet of you, but we've gotta go."  
Andy still stares at the blonde. "No, that's not it. This is her. This is her. This is the woman I set you up with, the woman you stood up that night!"  
Jane points perplex at Maura's lifeless body. "I ... I ... I was gonna meet Maura?"  
He nods vigorously, "And she didn't make it either, because she had an accident."  
Jane looks at Maura's spirit as the realization starts to set in. "It was you. Is that it? Is that why?"  
Maura's face softens. "I was supposed to meet you."  
Jane looks with big eyes at her friend. "How did you know her?"  
He furls his eyebrows. "I'm friends with her best friend. We went out years ago."  
Maura is narrowing her eyes. "I knew I'd see him before. That's A.J.!"  
"Andy is A.J.?" Jane laughs and point at him.  
Maura nods. "Yeah."  
Andy straightens up immediately. "What did you ... No one's called me A.J. since college."  
"He's older and hairier, but it's him."  
Jane's staring at Maura. "He's the one who tongued Amy at her wedding?"  
Andy points at the Italian. "How the hell did you know that? Nobody knows that!"  
Jane frowns deeply. "It's Maura."  
He holds up his hand. "Oh, my God. She really is here, isn't she?"  
"I told you!" Jane replies emphatically.  
"Well, let's get her on the gurney! I don't want them killing Amy's best friend!"  
Jane is about to pull the blanket back. "Thank you!"  
"Come on." he demands.  
Maura smiles relieved. "Okay. Be really gentle."  
They are stopping as the door opens briefly, but no one's coming in as a phone starts ringing.  
Maura glance at Jane. "That's Patrick."  
Jane looks down at her watch. "He's fifteen minutes early!"  
Andy's frowning deeply. "He's coming in."  
Jane is hurrying to the door.  
"Careful, Jane." Maura warns her as the Italian emerges from the room. "He's really smart. His name is ..."  
Jane smiles at the tall man. "Dr. McMahon?"  
He looks confused at her. "Yeah."  
"Hi, Jane Rizzoli."  
Maura eyes him skeptically. "Buy some time. Tell him you're a doctor."  
Jane clears her throat. "I'm a ... uh ... doctor. I'm a ... um ... special consultant from PAC Medical. Dr. Irving sent me down for a final evaluation."  
McMahon stares at her. "I had no verbal or written instruction to that end."  
Jane licks her lips and says what Maura is telling her. "There are new evidence to support the full functionality can be restored. We need to go and need to run some more test."  
Ha places his hands on his hips. "Who's we?" he asks skeptically.  
Maura raises her eyebrows. "Tell him your team is downstairs."  
Jane scratches her chin. "My team is downstairs with a signed order from Dr. Irving."  
Maura smiles proudly. "You got it."  
McMahon takes a deep breath. "This is the first I've heard of this. You won't mind if I talk to Dr. Irving?"  
Jane shakes her head and points to the opposite direction. "Oh, no. Go ahead. Go confirm with him. We'll wait right here."  
McMahon takes his phone out of his pocket. "I'll just ... uh ... get him on the phone."  
Jane is cursing in her head while she considers her next move.  
She's staring nervously at him and slams her left gist to his chin as he smiles cocky at her.  
"Jane!" Maura calls out shocked.  
The Italian shakes her hurting hand. "Okay, I'm not convincing as a doctor!"  
Andy rolls the gurney out of the room and sees the beaten McMahon on the hospital floor. "Oh, God, Jane. The felonies just piling up!"  
Maura points in a direction. "That way, Jane."  
Jane sees Karen and Amanda rounding the corner. "Go this way."  
Karen starts to run toward the punched McMahon. "Patrick!"  
"What happened?" Amanda squeals.  
"Are you okay?"  
McMahon groans and sits up, and pushes a button on the phone. "This is Dr. McMahon. I need security on the third floor."  
Maura jogs beside Jane down the hallway. "Don't jostle. But go faster. Take a right up here."  
Jane heart is beating like crazy. "Right here. Right, right, right, right, right! The elevator!"  
A security man spots them and starts to run. "Hold it! We need to ..." he grunts as Andy tackles him down in the elevator.  
Jane raises an eyebrow but continues running.  
The next security gut spots her and points at her. "Stop right there. Stop! Stop! Stop! Hold it!"  
Jane makes an hard stop and looks for the next best escape, realizing that she's surrounded.  
Maura is staring at her own body. "Jane."  
Jane furrows her eyebrows. "Maura."  
"Oh, my God, Jane. My breathing tube is gone."  
Jane looks down at the blonde's body. "What? No! Well, what can I do?"  
Maura shakes her head. "It's too late. It's happening."  
Jane furls her eyebrows. "No!"  
Maura starts to vanish into air. "It's strong."  
"Be stronger." Jane whispers.  
"It's pulling me away." Maura replies before she disappears completely.  
"No!" Jane yells panicky as the hearts monitor starts to show a flat heart line. "Stay with me!" she demands before she tries to safe the blonde with a mouth-to-mouth.  
Suddenly, a security man tackles Jane to the floor and another holds the struggling brunette down.  
Jane tries to sit up again. "Maura! No! Help her!"  
McMahon looks at a male nurse. "Gimme five of Haldol."  
Jane growls like an wild animal as another man is holding her down. "Help her! Maura!"  
"Hold her." one of the men orders.  
Jane sits up for a second. "No! Maura!"  
Everybody becomes silent when a beep from the heart monitor fills the hall.  
Amanda, who has witnessed the whole heart breaking scene, furls her eyebrows. "What's going on?"  
McMahon stares at the gurney. "That's impossible. That's impossible."  
Maura furls her eyebrows and starts coughing.  
Amanda gasps and hurries to the gurney with Karen at her side. "Maura? Can you hear me?"  
A stunned Jane stands up without fighting the men who are holding her back.  
Amanda takes Maura's hand in her own and starts crying. "I can't believe we almost let you go. Honey? It's me, Amanda."  
Maura's slowly opening her eyes. "Amy." she whispers.  
The other woman nods happily. "Yeah."  
Maura tries to sit up and lies back on the gurney with a groan. "I think I bumped my head."  
Amanda looks at the security men and nods approving. "It's okay."  
Jane still can't shut her mouth and walks to the gurney. She looks at the blonde and smiles relieved. "Hey." she whispers at Maura.  
Maura looks long at her. "Hello." she replies.  
"It's me." the Italian whispers with soft eyes.  
Maura shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I don't ..."  
Amanda smiles at the blonde. "Honey, it's Jane. You don't remember Jane?"  
Maura looks back at the Italian and sees the hurt look.  
Jane furls her eyebrows. "The apartment. The rooftop. Garden. Nothing." she takes a shakily breath as she sees the confused eyes and wants to touch Maura's hand, but blonde pulls her hand away.  
"Honey," Amanda says hurt herself. "you don't remember her at all?"  
Maura looks up at her and shakes her head.  
A single tear escapes Jane's eye and make its way down her cheek as she steps nodding back.  
She lowers her eyes as everybody stares at her.  
Maura looks confused after her as Amanda embraces her. Something feels different, somehow she feels like she knows this foreign brunette. And somehow she feels disappointed that this woman os leaving flightless.  
Jane glances one last time at the blonde before she rounds the corner.  
She's sure that all the efforts and stress was worthless.  
She's sure that she will be in jail by tomorrow, but she already said it this morning. It doesn't matter where she'll be when she can't have the nagging blonde in her life.  
She wipes the tear off her cheek and takes off the coat, heading out of the hospital.  
She's asking herself what wishful thinking she as she've done this.  
That it would end like in Sleeping Beauty, and she would be the knight in shining armor?  
Who the hell was she kidding?

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 **Hey, guys. This was the last chapter, but I still have an Epilogue. It will be short but sweet. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Thanks for joining.**

 **T73.**


	7. Epilogue

**So, guys. This is it. Thanks for following this little one. Enjoy.**

 **T73.**

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Maura finally enters her apartment with Amanda and Amanda's husband after over three months.  
She looks around and smiles contently.  
"We only rented it for a month." Amanda states.  
Maura furls her eyebrows. "Did you move something?"  
Amanda shakes her head. "No."  
Maura scoffs. "It's funny, I just have this strange feeling like ..." she pauses and looks around. "something's missing."  
"Everything's here, just as you left it." Amanda's husband is saying.  
Maura smiles and shrugs. "I guess it's just been a long time."  
Amanda's hugging her tightly. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"  
Maura smiles and is hugging ger back. "Yeah. I'm gonna be good. So I'll see you guys Saturday."  
"Okay." Amanda says as she release the blonde and starts to leave. "The girls'll bake for you."  
Maura smiles broadly and sits down on her couch.  
She frowns as soon as she spots the ring on the coffee table and runs a finger over it.  
She is well aware that something major is missing in her memory, but as hard as she tries to remember, she really can't remember what it was. And the harder she tries to remember, the unclear this particular memory becomes.  
But somehow she remembered those kind, warm, brown eyes she have seen at the hospital after she woke up from the coma.  
This brunette looked at her like she known her better than anybody else does.  
Amanda has told her the whole story which is hard to believe.  
If she would have an out of body experience, she could remember, wouldn't she?  
Especially for her as a physician it is hard to believe.  
She believes in fact, that's why she was confused why this employee of the bookstore smiled at her and hold his thumb up, like he would know her.  
But she never saw him before, did she?  
She wasn't sure of anything anymore.  
Maura sighs heavily and gets up to her feet after she'd decided to go to the rooftop to clear her mind and enjoy the view.  
Her breath hitches as she makes the first stop on it and sees that the whole roof became a beautiful garden that she always wanted.  
Jane's wearing her black pantsuit , a green shirt and finally her golden badge and her gun on her belt as she's watering a bush.  
She looks up and frowns as she sees Maura. "Hi. I was on my way to work and thought ... uh ... I should check on the garden." she sees Maura's confused look and swallows hard. "Uh ... Don't worry. I'm ... I just wanted you to have your garden."  
Maura looks around herself and smiled amazed. "How did you get up here?"  
The Italian clears her throat. "Spare key. Under the fire extinguisher." she states and sighs heavily when she sees the confused face. "Look, the last thing I want to do is scare you. Goodbye, Maur."  
Maura smiles but then something clicks in her mind."Wait."  
A glimmer of hope starts to spark Jane's heart and she turns around. "Yeah."  
Maura's licking confused her lips. "The key. I ... I need the key back."  
Jane's sensing that there also is something else, but she fishes the key out of her pocket. "Oh, right." she whispers and hold the key in her palm so Maura has to,touch her like they did on their first night together.  
Maura hesitates but looks into deep brown eyes. "How do I know you?" she whispers.  
The Italian smiles softly. "Maybe from your dreams."  
Maura takes a deep breath and places her hand against the foreign woman's palm.  
She gasps as she sees all the pictures and memories she was looking for so long. Feeling how she become one person again.  
She shakes her head. "It wasn't a dream."  
Jane smiles broadly and shakes her head. "No." she whispers and takes a deep breath before she grabs Maura's wrist and pulls her against her body.  
She's kissing her like there is no tomorrow.  
Maura's breaking the kiss and caresses Jane's cheek. "Jane." she whispers.  
"Yeah." Jane whispers with a broad smile. "Yeah."  
Maura's kissing her again and wraps her arms around the taller woman's neck, smiling as the Italian pulls her impossible close.  
Jane buries her face in the blonde's neck and a tear runs down her cheek. "I thought I would've lost you. You just can't leave me, Maur. You're my matter of heart. And I will never let you go."  
Maura closes her eyes with a smile. Never ever has she felt so loved like in this moment.  
Finally she had found her fellow, even though it was the most unconventional way she ever experienced. But finally she fells like she's in the right arms.  
Jane was the one who never gave her up, who was willing to go to jail just for her.  
And she knows she would do the same for the Italian, because she loves her. " And you are my matter of heart. And because I love you too."  
Jane looks at her smiling broadly, kissing her for the third time since she knows the blonde.  
And hoping she won't have to kiss another woman for the rest of her life .


End file.
